


(1) New Message

by Cefhclwords



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Smut, Teasing, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2020-05-07 16:44:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19213438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cefhclwords/pseuds/Cefhclwords
Summary: Dele is in LA, Eric is in Ibiza. Eric's sandals are a problem.Based on the Prompt: “Why are you dressed like that?”





	1. This is Yours?

**Author's Note:**

> Read more and request at my Tumblr by the same name: cefhclwords :) <3 hope you enjoy this!
> 
> Any comments, feedback or Kudos mean the whole entire world to me, and keep me inspired to keep writing!! xx
> 
> Thank you for reading!!

Dele: “why are you dressed like that?”

Eric stared at the text from Dele for the third time in as many minutes. He used his thumb to scroll up and check their previous messages from this morning to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

It wasn’t exactly out of character for Dele to send him messages extremely absent of any context, making Eric work to figure what he was on about- but Eric was a few beers and glasses of wine deep and he couldn’t quite figure out what Dele was on about.

Stupidly he had an instinct to look around to try and spot Dele, the text suggesting that he could somehow see Eric. He knew that was impossible however, with the boy in the states while he was in Ibiza.

The nine-hour difference was a bit of a tricky one to navigate, but with the guys up late to play Wolf, the time on his screen edging toward two am, Eric, knew it was only late afternoon for Dele; so he’d be able to get a reply quickly.

The only issue was that he kind of didn’t know what to reply, or what Dele was getting at. He could always just chuck him a few question marks, but Dele would have a go at him for being clueless or just continue to chat away until Eric finally clued in, so he tried to find another option.

He decided to check once more that he hadn’t sent Dele a picture of himself and forgotten, somehow, but he hadn’t. Besides exchanging good morning texts, Eric asking Dele for the name of the lunch place they had liked last time they were here, and a selfie Dele had sent of him (the man holding the edge of a red cup between his teeth, shirtless and squinting at the camera.) there was no clues what Dele was hinting at.

Eric read the last message in the chat, a simple “pretty cute for a frat boy aren’t you?” from Eric in reply to Dele’s photo, smiling at the thought videos he’d seen on Instagram of Dele joking around with the boys like a total lad, playing off being cool with those stupid Nike socks on. God, he loved that idiot so much.

Eric huffed a sigh and looked up when he saw Jan approaching from the corner of his eye. He had a fresh bottle of wine in hand, wiggled his eyebrows at Eric who nodded, lifting his almost empty wine glass to be filled.

“Thanks mate” Eric nodded his head forward in appreciation before he leant back in his chair and took a slow sip of the red wine.

“No worries kind sir, enjoy” Jan laughed, winking as Eric as he padded back through the doors that connected the balcony and the home, where a few of the boys were sat watching a movie.

Eric had opted to stay outside, his brother along with a few of the others scattered around the balcony, chatting, a few playing cards. The air was still nice and balmy, only disturbed by a cool breeze that blew in off the shoreline, it had been enough for him to pull on a black hoodie, but not needed to change his shorts for trackies.

Eric cast a glance across the long table and balcony at the other boys, seeing they were all distracted before he lifted his phone to take a quick picture of himself.

It wasn’t blurry thankfully, a snapshot of him, a tiny smile on his face, the top of his head just in the very top of the frame, almost the full length of his black hoodie visible.

Eric pulled up the photo in a text to Dele and typed out “this is yours???” hitting send before he placed his phone on the table. He reached for his glass and took a long sip, leant back and listened to the sound of a mild fight breaking out, something about someone cheating, laughing as their voices rose with playful frustration at each other.

Just as Eric went to open his mouth and cut them off, to explain that by the sounds of it they were playing two entirely different games- his phone buzzed on the table top, pulling his attention away.

Eric pulled his phone into his hands and scanned the screen with his eyes, smirking a bit at the response. It was a simple one worded reply “Dier” however when Eric unlocked the screen, a grey text bubble with three bouncing bubbles indicated the man was still typing, just as Eric knew he would be. A one word only reply from Dele was pretty much impossible and unheard of.

His follow up messages begin to roll in steadily

“Of all things, the hoodie is the only thing stopping me from breaking up with you :(“

“1. Why 2. How 3. Why”

Eric laughed and shook his head, and began to type a reply before a few new messages came in.

“The sandals!!!!!!!! :(“

“Why do you have to make it so hard to date you, you’re hot and then you do that!! Posted for everyone to see!”

It finally clicked, and Eric remembered a few of the lads recording clips of them playing Wolf, some of them must have made it to social media then. 

Eric laughed in earnest now, and tucked his smile into the neck of his hoodie, cast his eyes up to notice his brother watching him with a knowing grin, rolling his eyes at him before he turned his attention back to the conversation.

Eric huffed and focused his eyes on the phone screen, beginning to type back to Dele.

“You are awful to me, I take a holiday to escape you, and you find a way to bully me even then”

Eric bit at his bottom lip, trying to tame his grin as Dele’s reply came in.

“Maybe, but it’s like you woke up and thought ‘how can I offend Dele today while he’s on a lovely holiday on LA’ and then saw those sandals and thought perfect!!”

“Hmm. It was definitely that you’re right, I packed them especially in hopes that when I wore them you would somehow see them on social media.” Eric replied, picturing Dele sat curled up on a chair by the pool, phone in hand to talk to Eric, to steal just a few moments together.

Dele: “:( :( Do you think its too late for me to transfer? Not sure I can be a part of the same club as those naff feet”

Eric: “You probably should put in a request, I was thinking of wearing these instead of my boots for the new season, so it’s probably best you’re not there”

Dele: “I’ll miss you, not the sandal’s, but you were an average midfielder half the time”

Eric: “wish I could say the same about you :/”

Dele: “:O”

Eric: “ :/”

Dele: “Are we breaking up?”

Eric: “Thought you’d never ask!”

Dele: “Cool, can I have the sandal’s in the divorce? Want to burn them please”

Eric: “Sure, but I get that really nice toaster Sally bought us”

Dele: “deal”

Eric reached for his wine and took a few small sips, licked his lips to chase the taste of it and tried to contain a giddy smile. He ran the edge of the thin glass over his wet bottom lip, and thought absently for the first time since they split off to their respective holidays, he wished he was somewhere else. He wished for just a second that he could be with Dele, wished he could kiss him, just for a second, lick into his mouth for the familiar taste of him.

Eric shook his head to clear the thought away, appreciative for the time with his younger brother, and friends, even in the moments that he missed Dele, they would have time together when he got back.

Eric: “will you miss me?”

Dele: “eh”

Dele: “I mean”

Dele: “The sex was good??”

Eric: “:(“

Eric: “Again, wish I could say the same :/”

Dele: “:O”

Eric: “:O”

Dele didn’t reply and Eric placed his phone down to finish off his glass of red, wondering over to the others and sitting with them. He was pleased to see that they were actually playing the same game now, hear war, from the inside out, his phone a heavy presence in his pocket.

He wondered if Dele had a matching smile to him, if he was walking around that beautiful LA mansion, thinking of Eric, even when surrounded by a myriad of people distractions.

Eric’s phone finally buzzed again a few moments later and Eric made himself wait for another round of cards being placed down before he pulled it out of his pocket, leg bouncing in nerves.

There isn’t any text, just a picture sent to him, from the small thumbnail preview shown on the lock screen, Eric was confused, and swiped to unlock the phone quickly.

It was a screenshot of Dele’s home screen, apps all sorted into folders labelled with random emojis, that Dele swore made sense and was a proper system, even though Eric could never navigate his phone correctly.

It was the background photo that made Eric want to melt into the chair he was sat in, he shook his head at himself and tried to contain doing something stupid like letting out a giddy sound. God.

Dele’s new home screen background was the photo that Eric had sent him minutes prior, a black and white filter thrown over it. Christ.

Eric pulled open their texts and went to write out a new one to Dele, only to have a message from Dele come through as he did.

“Hey, Diet, you look cute, I take it back :( wanna get back together?”

Eric grinned and typed out a quick reply, not caring about the stupid grin on his face.

“Yeah I guess that’s alright, maybe you can call me later and ask what I’m wearing :) :)”


	2. Don't Come Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dele is still in LA Eric is still in Ibiza and Eric's shirt is a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read more and request at my tumblr by the same name: cefhclwords :) <3 hope you enjoy this! x Hope you enjoy! Kudos and comments mean the whole word!!

Eric and Dele hadn’t had the chance to chat much over the day in truth. Between the long gap in time zones, and both wrapped up in their own holiday activities, the only communication had been a kiss emoji sent by Dele around 3am his time, noon for Eric who was sat eating lunch, smiling at the small icon. After very careful consideration, Eric had replied with a winking emoji and that was that.

Eric wouldn’t admit it, not to a single soul that when they go walking around the island after lunch, he has an agenda.

Agenda seemed a strong word now that he thinks about it, maybe plan was better, operation, if you will, Operation Fashion. Eric shook his head at himself and pulled his glasses over his eyes as he looked into the small shops along the sides of the street, attempting to stay casual as he tries to keep pace with the other boys.

After Eric falls to the back of the group for the fourth time, wondering slowly as he looks into another shop, Eddie clues in and drops back, nudging his shoulder into his brothers with a grin. His face is a bit sunburnt and Eric clocks in his mind absently that he needs to make sure Eddie puts proper zinc cream on tomorrow morning.

“You wanna have a look?” Eddie asks, voice easy and hands in his pockets, relaxed as he looked across to where the boys are wondering in front of them, a bit stumbly from their beers at lunch.

Eric bit his cheek and considered how hard Eddie would laugh if he told him about Operation Fashion, still weighing it up when Eddie jogs ahead slightly. “Lads, wanna check some stuff out, Eric and I will meet you in a bit” he calls to them, the boys nodding and shrugging, Jan calling back “no worries baby Dier” which makes Eric smirk.

Eddie walks back to him then, reaching up to slap the top of Eric’s head, “I don’t know what you’ve got going on in there but I’m not dense mate, you wanna have a look in some shops, so, let’s look in some shops yeah?” he smiled easily, cutting across Eric to slip into a small glass door boutique, posture the picture of ease.

Eric always admired that most about his younger brother, the way he effortlessly seemed to float through life, nothing was a big deal, not to Eddie.

Eric followed after his brother and the pair ended up going through four of five stores, Eddie finding a few things for himself as well. Eric ended up with just one item, tucked away safely in a fabric cotton bag, carefully folded and heavy in his hand as he carries it.

It felt a bit stupid really, the way he was excited over a piece of silky material, but he loved riling Dele up just as much as the ther lad loved to rile him up right back. So the thought of Dele’s reply, hopefully positive, but even if negative, was worth it.

Eric tucks it into the back of his mind the rest of the day, focus on the boys and the beach, the beautiful dinner they eat before getting ready to go out. Only when he is fresh out of his shower, towel wrapped around his waist as he sprays his aftershave over the base of his neck, does Eric’s let himself feel excited about the shirt, about Dele’s reaction.

Somehow, despite himself, Eric managed to forget about his phone after he sent the selfie captioned with a sun emoji to Dele. He’d shoved his phone into his back pocket as he tried to help them organise where they were going, ensure they all had a drink to sip at as they walked down to the shore side club they’d picked to go to tonight.

They finally arrive, get set up in a booth with bottle service, Eric leans back and tugs at the front of his shirt, already sweating in the heat of the club when he finally remembers. His heart sparks up and he digs out his phone, clicking the home button to illuminate his phone, stomach going warm at having three messages already waiting for him from Dele.

“Eddie is looking good and healthy, that shade of blue is very lovely on him” 

“Did Jan get a haircut? It’s proper nice” 

“That’s a great view, the mountains are wicked” 

As Eric scans the words, he only wants to kill him a little bit. His very obvious diversion of the topic, even jokingly, gave away exactly how he felt.

Eric knew him well enough to see exactly what he was doing. He knew Dele just didn’t want to give Eric the satisfaction of having caught his attention in the best way after the whole sandal debacle.

Eric excused himself from their private booth, instead slipping into the bathroom, the walls a dark reflective silver with low purple lights illuminating it. Eric leant against one of the walls, not bothered to hideout in one of the stalls, hand cradled in his hands as he began to reply. 

Eric: “I think we might have been a bit early in calling off the break up” 

Dele: “Omg Ur so hard to please! :(“ 

Eric: “My mother warned me abt dairying popular footballers like you said they had an ego problem, should have listened to her”

Dele: “You think I’m popular? :O”

Eric: “Don’t take it as a compliment” 

Dele: “Hard not to” 

Eric: “I feel like you’re avoiding my proposal” 

Dele: “You want to marry me?” 

Eric: “:/“

Eric: “One day someone will teach you to read”

Eric: “My proposal to break up” 

Dele: “:( “ 

Eric: “👀” 

Dele: “:O” 

Eric: “…..” 

Dele: “Ok fine”

Dele: “Fine”

Dele: “Fine”

Dele: “Eric dier, you look very very handsome tonight” 

Eric: “👀”

Dele: “If you tell anyone this I will throw ur sandals into the ocean with rocks tied to them so they sink to the bottom. But you looked handsome enough that I might have even kissed you if I was there with you”

Eric: “:O are you trying to sext me?” 

Eric phone pings then with a new Instagram notification, a preview of it popping up on the top of his screen. The notification read *Image sent from Sanchooo10* with the text of the message showing on the preview “was sat like this for way too long, had to..” before it trailed off to the end of the notification bar.

Eric watched the bouncing grey bubble of dele typing for a second before he clicked on the notification pop up, it wasn’t like it was a common occurrence for him to get messages from Jadon, And the beginning of the message had him curious to see the rest. Eric pulled down on the message and tapped it to open the app, screen showing the full message as the picture loaded.

“Was sat like this for way too long, had to throw a pair of socks at his head to get him to snap out of it and cook us breakfast, mans is whipped 😂😂😂” Eric laughed, a bit confused before he looked up to see the picture had finally loaded.

Eric's eyes widen and his stupid heart might have gone a little soft at the picture. It was blurry, clearly zoomed in, a picture of dele that the boy clearly had no clue was being taken of him. Dele was sat on a long white kitchen countertop, a mug in one hand and his phone in other, shirtless and in a pair of soft sweat shorts he usually slept in. It was taken from an angle slightly behind him, The screen of his phone filled with Eric’s face, a zoomed version the picture he’d sent him, just focused on Eric- the pattern of the shirt distinct even in the low quality of the picture. 

Eric was smiling like an idiot now, hand pressed against his chest as he stared at the photo a few moments longer, shaking his head as his phone buzzed in quick succession with messages from Dele.

Dele: “ You think my sexting game is that weak? Also, don’t go getting a big head about this,- Ed lent you the shirt right? No way that’s come from the same wardrobe as your bland oversized gear” 

Eric: “Hmm 🤔🤔”

Dele: “What now you weirdo”

Eric: “You say that…”

Eric: “And yet..”

Eric sends the photo of Dele to the man himself, smirking as he watched the grey bubble spear and disappear in quick succession. 

It flickered up and down on the screen for a few moments and eric laughed, imagining dele spluttering as he tried to come up with an excuse. 

Dele: “Was trying to get a better look at the background ur massive head got in the way 😡”

Eric: “Sure” 

Dele: “That image is prob photoshopped -Jadon seems pretty good at that kinda stuff”

Eric: “Yeah definitely”

Dele: “❤️”

Eric: “❤️❤️”

Dele: “Would probably get lost in all the DM’s if I messages you and told you you looked good… Eric Dier I want you to fuck me while the Ibiza sun sets in the background- you’ve probably been sent that exact message overs hundred times today since that went up, and you’re still fishing for compliments diet?” 

Eric: “Believe it or not, messages from you tend to you stand out a bit for some reason” 

Dele: “😳 you know how to make a boy feel special” 

Eric: “You don’t :(”

Dele: “Next time I’ll go live on Instagram and react to it for you”

Eric: “That’s all I’m asking” 

Dele: “Soo… hypothetically, say I wanted to build up my collection of photos of the Ibiza landscape you know, just some nice hols inspo pictures would there maybe be any more pictures you could send me to add?” 

Eric sends him three more pictures, another version of the selfie where his eyes had been shut, a picture of just him and Eddie, the photo framed from the waist up, capturing the shirt well. The last had been a picture Eric took in the vanity mirror of the bathroom, shirt still unbuttoned, black jeans on and pink toothbrush in his mouth.

Dele: “Wow thank you, the scenery is just beautiful, especially in the last one- that bathroom interior really captures Ibiza well”

Eric: “You’re welcome x”

Eric decides he’s been hidden away long enough, the boys probably starting to get suspicious of where he went and takes a moment to school his expression a bit, before he exited the bathroom.

Eric wanders back to the boys via the bar, stopping to get a mojito, just because he felt like one, definitely not because they were Dele’s favourite, and how his mouth would always taste like mint the whole night when they went out.

It wasn’t about that at all, not even a bit.

Drink now in hand, Eric walked over to join the boys back in the booth, wrangled the paper straw between his lips and took a long sip, phone sitting upside down on the table in front of him

He falls into easy conversation with his mates, but after a while, a few of them slip away to dance or chat to some interested girls, and Eric’s focus slips back to his phone, the person he wants to talk to the most.

Eric gives in and picks up the phone, surprised to see new texts from Dele- the thumping bass of the nightclub must have disguised the vibrations of his phone.

Dele: “What are the odds on you stopping to try and break up with me everyday if I tell you my real opinion on the shirt? :/“

Dele: “Earth to Dier, I’m offering to be nice to you AND repair our relationship”

Eric smirked and focused on replying, wishing he had another mojito to replace the one he’d just finished.

Eric: “Prob cheaper than couples counseling”

Dele: “You’re lucky I’m such a thinker”

Eric: “I’m not seeing anything nice being said to me!”

Dele: “Not been subtle a day of your life have you Diet? probably got that shirt to get my attention”

Eric “…..”

Dele: “woow”

Dele: “It looks really fucking good ok? It shouldn’t because the pattern is a bit weird and you have literally never owned a anything that is that silky kind of material so it could have looked proper weird. But you look really, really good, that’s the truth big boy”

Eric flushes at the text and sucks the now soggy paper straw of his drink, catching mostly water from the melted ice, but he needed to do something with the buzzing feeling in his chest.

Eric: “shut up oh my god I’m revoking your texting privileges when we get home”

Dele: “good luck with that- also you asked for compliments?!! And what I thought you liked that nickname? I know one part of you reaaaally likes it ;)”

Eric: “So close to getting us back together then you pull this”

Dele: “:( Maybe Poch will give us couples therapy if we ask nicely?”

Eric: “:(“

Dele: “I like that you were wearing it for me”

Dele: “You probably could have been wearing a weird leopard print shirt and I would have liked it, if you were wearing it for me”

Eric: “you’re just saying that”

Dele: “yeah I am, thank god it was actually a decent shirt you picked :/“

Eric laughed, swiped his hand over his brow and dropped his phone to the table for a bit, and looked up and around the pulsing nightclub. The large room thrummed with heavy beats, soaked in flashing bright lights and fog pulsing out of smoke machines, men and women filled the space and were all over each other, dancing together, touching, talking.

His eyes eventually fell to one particular couple, the pair of them tucked into a corner near a bar, hidden from brighter lights. A weird ache in Eric’s chest sparks as his watches hands link together on the shorter man’s back, the taller man swaying them, far slower than the beat of the actual song, moving to press his lips to the man’s ear, whispering something that made them both burst into sharp giggles.

Eric smiled and averted his eyes, giving them back the privacy of their moment, collecting his phone into his hands once more, biting at his lip as he debated typing out the message he wanted to send.

He thought back to the couple again, the way they had held each other close, burst into laughter during an intimate moment, or a perceived one anyway, the way that they fit together so well.

Eric: “I miss you Del”

He swallows, wondering maybe if it was a bit too much, the words too raw, too honest for the conversation, but his phone buzzes quickly to quell his insecurities.

Dele: “Wish I was there, or you were here, or we were together somewhere else, I miss you too”

Eric feels a little dizzy, scrubs a hand over the back of his neck, eyes heavy and soft as he reads the message a few more times, rolling his eyes at himself as he feels the stupid smile on his face.

Below it all, the shirt and the teasing, this was the truth of it, the simple fact that he missed the feeling of Dele beside him, teasing and prodding. Being able to experience life with Dele by his side the past few years, hear Dele’s comments, jokes, feelings on everything, he felt spoilt.

Dele’s opinion, his take on life was one of the things Eric loved most about him, and he felt so lucky to have that almost 24/7. Maybe that’s what he missed most, besides the physical affection, just sharing moments with Dele.

“Home soon yeah?” Eric replied, biting his lip lightly, It’s an I love you without having to say it.

“Home soon” Dele replied, following up the message with a simple photo of his view from the backyard of the home he was staying in LA.

Somehow, that’s exactly what Eric needed to see, a snippet of what Dele was looking at right now, knowing they were seeing the same thing.

Eric’s phone pings with a message a couple of hours later, as he crawling into his bed, exhausted from a late night out.

It’s another photo- of the high top shoes he’s been wearing, from one of the photos with the boys, a zoomed in screenshot from a group photo with the boys, accompanied by the words “Don’t come home :( :( :( :( xx”


	3. A Cry for Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric is still in Ibiza, Dele is still in LA. Dele’s latest Instagram is a problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! Read and request more at my tumblr: Cefhclwords ❤️❤️ Kudos and comments literally make me the happiest person in the world! Hope you enjoy xxx

Eric’s room was warm already, the morning sun darting in soft rays over the crisp white bed covers from where it peaked in through the soft white linen fabric curtains. 

The man was half awake, eyes closed and limbs heavy, thankful for the window he’d left cracked open before he stumbled into bed last night, a soft breeze blowing in to cool his warm skin. 

Another buzz from his phone made him stir, it was the third buzz in the past few minutes, and Eric finally gave in. He yawned and stretched his arms up high to let his covers pool around the low of his waist. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes and turned on his side to reach for his phone, fumbling it a few times before he secured the device in his hand. 

Eric tugged it free of the charger it had been plugged into, and sprawled out on his back once more, blinking sleepily as he scrolled through the notifications that had popped up overnight. 

Instagram was the final app he opened, a notification from a couple of hours ago that Dele had posted a new photo. His face split into a wide, fond grin as he first looked at the image, the happy glow of Dele’s smile, those bloody sunglasses he loved so much. 

His eyes drifted down Dele’s figure in the picture and he pulled his bottom lip into his mouth with his teeth, sucking at the skin as his eyes followed the lines of Dele’s defined stomach, gaze lingering, staring at the Palms tattoo he kissed most mornings. Eric, still half asleep, closed his eyes again for a moment and let out a groan as he turned his head into his pillow. 

It had been long enough now that Eric’s body had decided it missed Dele too, and most mornings he’d been waking up, wound up, for lack of a better word. 

The villa they were staying in, while big, didn’t have the thickest walls, and Eric had to endure hearing a few of the boy’s hookups, but he himself didn't fancy his brother and his mates hearing him having a wank over his boyfriend. Besides, it would only make him want to call Dele or face time him to at least get off with him if he had to do it himself, and he definitely wasn't letting the boys hear that.

Eric turned onto his stomach buried his face further into his pillow and took a few slow breaths, ignoring the pull low in his stomach, or the way his dick throbbed, half hard in his boxers. He was pretty sure he’d woken up half turned on already, simply from the lack of any release this past week and a bit, but just seeing Dele had his mind turning and that heat in his stomach building. 

He huffed out a breath and flipped onto his back, hand drifting to push a palm at the base of his cock, trying to ease the discomfort but give his body the message that it wasn't happening. 

Eric picked up his phone once more and looked at the screen again, letting a small giggle slip out of his mouth as he took in the complete image for the first time. Annoyingly, even as he looked at the picture closer, it did nothing to quell the interest running through his body. Even as he noticed the ridiculous sock/ slides combination Dele was so fond of, the Pikachu and Tinkerbell necklaces that Eric vaguely recalls Dele mentioning in a past conversation, he still felt attracted to his idiot boy. 

However, there was no way Eric could let Dele get away with this, not after the proper roasting he’d gotten from Dele over his outfits while being away. With a yawn, Eric moved both hands back to his phone and opened his text message thread to Dele, starting up a new message. 

Eric: “You could have just told me you wanted to talk”

Eric placed another pillow behind his head, sitting up slightly as he waited for Dele’s reply, trying to figure out what time it would be for Dele now. With a rough calculation, he knew it would be late afternoon/ early evening, nearly six pm. 

Dele: “???”

Eric smirked at the quick reply from Dele. Their texting had gotten more frequent now, with the time apart extending, they both had been checking in with each other more and more. Eric would have been embarrassed by how much he had begun to miss Dele if it wasn’t obvious that the other man felt the exact same. 

Dele had called him the other night, face timed him in fact- making up some excuse that he needed to talk to Eric- something about checking if Eric had accidentally taken one of his shaving cream on accident. It was a weak excuse, to begin with, but they had stayed on the phone for over an hour, and Eric had loved every minute of it, so he guessed he could let the lame excuse for contact pass. 

It had been nice to talk soft and slow about their days, what their families were up to, whatever came to mind- Eric had missed the way they could seemingly talk for hours on end. It felt familiar and lovely and Eric hadn’t realised how much he valued that time with Dele. 

Eric loved sweet talk with Dele, but he’d always love teasing him more, taking shots at each other had been how they’d fallen in love with each other really, being able to tease and push and have fun, so his reply came easily. 

Eric: “Dele, if that Instagram wasn’t a cry for help then I don’t know what it was”

Dele: “A good picture of me that’s what it was Dier. I don’t appreciate this criticism, I looked good!”

Eric: “Pikachu. Necklace.” 

Dele: “300,000 likes” 

Eric: “I didn’t like it”

Dele: “Well then, It’s good that I don’t like you” 

Eric: “You sent me: “love you have a good day” literally yesterday” 

Dele “:/ don’t think that was from me….”

Eric: “Oh, you’re right!! Sorry that's embarrassing, it was my other boyfriend in LA on holiday” 

Dele: “:O”

Eric: “He hasn’t worn a Tinkerbell necklace before so he’s my favourite boyfriend”

Dele: “:) That’s ok, I’ll just go find myself a nice gridiron athlete beau, a quarterback?! Maybe he will have hair too!! A nice upgrade that would be, fingers crossed!”

Eric: “... Dele, you literally buzzed my hair for me like two weeks ago because you thought it was getting too long”

Dele: “I don’t know what you are talking about” 

Eric: “Do you remember about a month ago when I was giving you head and you told me if I grew it long again that you would stop having sex with me?” 

Dele: “no, ew I have never had sex with you???????”

Dele: “That does remind me though, your hair was looking a bit long the other night, might need a clean up maybe... Not that I care, but idk ur other boyfriend might??” 

Eric laughed properly then, rolled his eyes and wished Dele was right here with him so he could roll him under his body and prove to him just how much shit he was talking. 

Eric: “ :/” 

Eric: “That’s a relief then, had a whole night set aside for when we were both home… was going to come over to yours, have dinner cooked for us, thought we could have a shower together maybe, or a bath... guess I’ll make plans then!” 

Dele: “ :( now you’re being mean”

Eric: “Oh, I’m being mean?”

Dele: “Is it because you don’t like Disney? I told you to give Moana or Coco a chance, think you’d like it” 

Eric: “Yeah you're right it’s my whole personal vendetta against Tinkerbell” 

Dele: “See that makes a lot more sense” 

Dele’s head snapped up at the cheering coming from inside the home, beer pong was going well then, Dele assumed before his eyes fell back to his phone. 

His body was loose and relaxed from the few drinks he’d had over the course of the afternoon, heavy and drenched with sweat from the late sun. 

It was part of the reason Dele loved Los Angeles so much, was how long the summer days were, the sun not setting till after eight. He wanted to make the most of it and had opted out of the first few rounds of beer pong to lay out by the pool that bit longer. 

He’d been with the boys almost 24/7 the past week and while Dele loved it, living in a large house filled with a bunch of footballers was loud and rowdy and a stupid amount of fun, having these few quiet moments to himself was quite nice. 

It had been made better when his phone had buzzed with a text from Eric, Dele’s feet dangling in the water, swinging his legs to let them slice through the water absently, when he’d gotten the first message. 

Dele’s back was beginning to twinge from laying back on the concrete, but he didn't want to move, hands holding his phone above himself as he typed away on his screen, cheeks hurting from his smile. 

He loved that Eric gave back, that he played into the joking and teasing, it was always so fun, interesting, it kept Dele on his toes- he loved it. 

While Dele was so thankful and lucky for those that praised him, thought he could do no wrong, treated him like a golden boy, especially those who wanted to get in his pants.

Eric, Eric always just treated him like a normal guy, called him out on his shit, supported him when he needed, helped him make tough calls. Eric’s opinion had come to mean so much to Dele because he knew Eric would always tell him how it was, would take care of him or be honest with him, as Dele not “Dele famous footballer” with a reputation to uphold. 

Dele watched the grey text bubble of Eric’s typing, thumb’s hovering on the screen as he waited for Eric’s next words, feeling silly at the excitement in his chest. Even if Eric was calling him out, Dele wanted every word of it. As he waited, he wondered what time it was in Ibiza, and quickly looked at this clock app, thumb pressing to the world clock icon. 

Dele smiled when he realised it was only just reaching nine am there, and the picture of Eric, all grumpy from just waking up, eyes a bit puffy from sleep, voice that side of husky and thick with sleep that made his words slower than usual. 

Something gave a small pang of pain near his chest at the image, and Dele only hesitated for a few seconds before he was clicking up to open facetime, the phone screen filling with Eric’s contact picture, a pouty-faced Eric with the Snapchat filter that made your eyes and mouth big, shrinking the length of your face and chin.

Eric was quick to answer, only leaving Dele to worry on his choice to call him for a few beats before Eric’s grinning face took up the frame. 

“God your head is massive innit?” Dele said on instinct, Eric’s face indeed taking up the frame in its entirety. 

Eric’s smile didn’t dim at all, and Dele wanted to kiss him. 

“Where are you?” Eric asked, brows squinting voice gruff as he pulled the back so that more of him was in the frame. 

“Got sad cause of your bullying so I came out here to sulk” Dele replied, pouting at Eric. 

Eric’s laugh, warm and throaty spilled from the phone speakers and Dele’s heart panged with that same ache. 

“Mmm, that right?” He Eric asked, watching as Dele moved to be half sitting to lean back on his elbow, holding the phone out so that Eric could see him sprawled out on the towel. He pressed the icon to switch camera, to show Eric his view, the pool, kicking his feet up to make a splash before he switched the image back to himself. 

“Can’t believe you don’t have your socks on, thought your feet fell off if you took them off?” Eric asked with a cheeky grin, eyes warm as he watched Dele, the flex of his muscles, his playful smile. 

Dele groaned and flipped Eric off, the camera now focused back on him, “like you don't wear socks and slides hmm, too good for it now are you posh boy?” Dele smirked.

He reached up to adjust his hair, looking at the small video icon of himself for just a split second before his eyes jumped back to Eric. 

“Alright alright Delboy settle down, I’m not the one with a diamond-encrusted pokemon around my neck” Eric tutted, shaking his head with a serious expression before he broke into a soft laugh, turning on his side so that he could hide his smile in the pillow slightly. 

Dele’s bright laughed joined his own through the speaker and Eric felt happiness rush through him at the sound of their laughter mixed together. 

As they settled once more, Eric’s eyes fell to Dele again, hands aching to be able to reach out and touch him. 

While at first, having some time apart had been easy, welcomed even, as a contrast to the fact of spending almost everything single day together, the distance had started to feel more present recently.

It wasn’t a large amount of time that they had been separated, but, being so ingrained in each other’s routine always made extended time apart feel out of place.

Dele smirked a he watched Eric’s eyes on him, pulling back his phone a bit so that eric would see the length of his torso, the defined muscles of his abdomen. It was a benefit of having to in your best physical shape for a living, and Dele was happy to use it to his advantage. 

Eric stayed quiet for a moment, still gazing at Dele before he must have realised the change in perspective, blinking quick before he buried his face into his pillow. “Sod off you poser” He whined, flipping Dele off which only made him laugh brightly. 

“A proper liar you are, carrying on that I look bad and you’re embarrassed of my outfit when you can't get enough of me” Dele laughed, voice soft and warm through the phone speakers. 

Eric had ensured to keep his volume low and his voice soft sine he couldn’t be bothered to find his AirPods when Dele rang.

“You wish” Eric scoffed, ignoring the temptation to tell and show Dele just how much he missed him, wriggling further under the covers instead he looked at him, smiling at the delighted glowing in Dele’s eyes at having caught him out.

“Never said your body didn’t look good did I? It’s that nasty gear, those necklaces and the slides and socks combo” Eric explained, biting down to prevent his smirk from showing. 

“Another man may think you’re trying to flirt with them, with all this chat about my body” Dele smirked, avoiding the comment about his outfit completely, skimming a hand across his chest, making sure Eric could see the movement.

“Del” Eric whispered, turning down the volume on his phone, just loud enough for him to hear it, phone held close 

“It’s hard to get off when you’re in a house full of your mates innit?” Dele continued, fingers now brushing down his chest and stomach, watching Eric watch him with dilated eyes. 

“Dele” Eric mumbled, the word barely formed, his mouth feeling dry, tongue too big for his mouth as he watched Dele’s movements, enthralled. 

Dele sat up, holding his phone so that Eric could see his fingers winding around the white strings of his sweats shorts, fiddling with them, “managed it a few times in the shower.....thought about that time after Ajax. Barely made it to the bathroom you were so riled up that night, I had that bruise on my back for like two weeks” Dele recounted with a soft laugh, voice smooth as he spoke. 

Eric’s hand tightened hard around his phone, at the memory of that night, licking his lips as he thought of the dark purple bruise on Dele’s skin from how he’d had him pinned to the wall. 

He cast a glance around the room to see if he could spot his AirPods- maybe if he ran the shower in the en-suite it would help pad some of the thinness of the walls. 

“Del hang on” Eric drawled out, heart rate picking up, stomach feeling tight as heat flooded his groin. 

Dele smirked and tucked the tops of his fingers under the waistband of his boxers, tugging at the fabric so that it pulled even lower still. 

Just as Eric was about to ask Dele to hold on while he got some headphones, Dele moved the phone back up to his face, smirking at Eric. 

“But hey, don’t want to get inappropriate here, since I’m not your favourite LA boyfriend, with my shitty fashion sense and all I think you should call your other boyfriend you can get off with him” Dele laughed and had the audacity to wink before hanging up the call.

Eric stared at his phone in shock, mouth dropped open as he processed the sudden change in pace. 

His phone lit up with a message and Eric let out a groan as he read it 

Dele: “Have fun 😈💦🍆” 

Eric: “you’re getting it when we get home 🙄” 

Dele: “Buzz ur hair nice and short again as we will see about me getting it xxxx” 

Eric rolled over and shoved his face into his pillow, unable to help himself from laughing despite his frustration, hand sliding down to squeeze himself through his boxers. 

He was going to pay for that.


	4. Boy in Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dele is in LA Eric is in Ibiza, Dele’s pink shorts are a problem, but just the right kind of problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!!! She did it! :) hope you enjoy the 4th installation, inspired by the hot pink shorts from Del’s insta and the pic of Eric wearing a veeeery similar pair in a photo years ago that Dele posted for Eric’s bday! Pleaseeee be nice abt the smut I know it’s kinda shit and I’d love some feedback pretty please or kudos if you did like it/ find it ok! 💕
> 
> https://cefhclwords.tumblr.com/post/185765952771/i-mean-credit-to-dancefairies-for The pictures for reference! X

The phone in Dele’s left hand buzzed away with messages as he kept his eyes focused on the plastic blue frame of the Connect Four game, flipping a yellow token between the fingers of his right hand as he considered his next move. 

The air was warm and he had a bit of an afternoon buzz going, a half finished cup of beer on the table left for him to finish up. He’d been chatting to Eric on and off for the past hour, it was reaching three in the afternoon now, and Eric had woken up early to go for a run so they had actually caught some time to talk to each other. 

The drinks, combined with being his mates, the good weather and speaking to Eric had Dele glowing in a good mood, unable to knock the smile from his face. 

Dele’s phone buzzed yet again impatiently and he slot the yellow token away, not bothering to double check as he turned his attention to his phone. 

Eric: Don’t you think?

Eric: Clay misses you I can tell :( :( He keeps looknig at my phone, think he knows I’m texting you

Eric: *looking

Eric: Do you reckon dogs will be able to text in the future? That would be so cool

With a roll of his eyes, Dele looked up to see his Connect Four opponent, Ben, happily chatting away with one of their other mates and focused his attention back to his phone. 

Dele: Yeah no I see it

Dele: Tell Clay I miss him too, he is my favourite Dier :)

Dele: If you had the ability to text Clay I’d probably never hear from you again

Eric: :O I can’t believe he is your favourite Dier, I mean I don’t care but mum will be crushed 

Dele: fine then I take it back, your parents and Clay are my favourite Diers

Eric: Might as well just say I’m your least favourite, makes it easier that way

Dele: you said it, not me

Eric: Yeah alright fine then I guess you can kiss Clay hello when you get home and I’ll just steer clear of you

Dele: perfect, was worried you’d be expecting a kiss when I get home, wasn’t sure how I was going to manage it

Eric: :O

Dele: :) 

Eric: might just stay in Greece

Dele: sounds good, hope you have your mamma Mia self discovery moment- hang on a sec, need to win this round of Connect Four. 

Dele dropped his phone into his lap and leant forward to engage in the game and picked up another yellow token, looking where he could place it on the fairly grid locked board. 

A few moments passed, and as Dele made the final move to seal his victory of the game, his phone buzzed a few more times suddenly. Dele smiled, wondering what weird thoughts Eric was sending off to him and picked up his phone, unlocking it with his thumb to access the messages. 

Eric: really 

Eric: really Del?

Eric: the pink shorts? That’s where we’re at?

Eric: you are the biggest tease alive I swear to god

The messages were followed with an image of himself, a screenshot taken off a video on Kyran’s snapchat, and Dele sucked the inside of his cheek into his teeth, biti down lightly as he fought the beaming grin threatening to sneak out. 

Eric: like… you bought those into this? You’re playing extra dirty now 

Dele: what are you on about? 

Eric: are you kidding me?

Dele: no? I mean I thought they might catch your eye because they are bright but didn’t think you’d be that into them

Eric: you really don’t remember?

Another photo message popped up and Dele smirked, at the image of a young Eric looking cheekily down the camera lenses at him. He begun to bounce his leg in a steady rhythm, excitement tingling in his belly. 

Dele: ?

Eric: so you’re saying that you don’t remember that just before you took that photo that you got on your knees for me and blew me so good that I couldn’t stand up for like five minutes after? 

Eric: that you dropped down between the sink and me, tucked up so that you could fit and pull my cock out to get your mouth around me? 

Eric: you can’t remember how I got dish soap all through your hair, Because I couldn’t help myself and even though I had a handful of dishes I had to grip onto you?

Eric: you don’t remember the reason I’m wearing those bright pink trunks is because you made me come so hard I got cum stains all over my actual swim trunks because you love to make it messy, even when you swallow- and the only thing downstairs was those pink shorts that daisy had bought me as mostly a joke, so I had to change into them? And the reason I have washing gloves on it because you told me I couldn’t keep washing with bare hands since I touched my cock..and then you decided you had to take a photo because I matched? 

Eric: you don’t remember any of that? At all?

Dele shivered and had to shuffle how he was sitting, one leg crossing over the other as he tugged the bottom of his shirt forward, dropped one arm, hopefully casually, to his lap. He swallowed and looked around quickly with hot cheeks to make sure no one saw by his expression the filth he’d just been sent by Eric. 

Dele: Fuck you

he fired back his reply quickly, before he locked the screen of his phone, feeling like everyone could see each dirty word broadcast across his forehead. 

Jesus, his chest was hot as he felt a throb between his legs, unable to help but push his forearm down to apply a bit of pressure to his semi hard cock, shivering at the feeling, it made his hips ache to roll forward and chase the contact. 

Eric: “you’re right I did fuck you that night too… how could I forget” 

A sharp round of laughter and cheers erupted from the boys, another game of Connect Four between a few of them happening beside him. It made Dele look up quickly, fear twisted in his gut. Jesus he felt like a school kid texting in class trying not to get caught out by his teacher. 

Dele coughed and squeezed a fist with his free hand. He was going to bloody kill Eric when he saw him. Of course he remembered what had happened just before that picture, but he’d just been teasing, he didn’t think that Eric would give a graphic play by play of it. 

“Gotta ring Haz, some deal with Leo” Dele excused himself from the group, not feeling guilty in the slightest in using his business as an excuse. Thankfully his loose cut shirt was long enough to hide his semi and Dele slipped into the empty home with a sharp exhale. 

Thankfully the large house was clear of anyone, all of the boys outside so Dele cupped himself over his shorts and gave a few squeezes to his cock, felt himself throb under his own touch, shivered in anticipation of properly getting a hand on himself.

Dele held his phone up at chest height, angling it down to snap a picture of him gripping himself, sending it off to Eric as he walked upstairs. 

Dele Look what you did :(

Eric: mmmm funny that, I remember a similar situation just a few short days ago ... almost like it was yesterday really… but I think it was me who was worked up all over you and you said you were too busy…

Dele: I will withhold sex for a month if you fucking leave right now

Dele texted with one hand as he slipped into his room, locking the door before he sprawled out onto his back on the king sized bed, kicking off his shoes as his hand rhythmically squeezed at his cock, growing harder under his own touch. 

Eric: can’t exactly leave you high and dry.. would just be doing the same to myself

The message made Dele frown before the follow up image came through and he shivered sharply at it, let out a small groan beneath his breath, want aching deep in his chest.

Eric knew how to get to him, that was for sure, he knew what Dele liked and how to set his mind on fire with one picture. 

The picture was of Eric laid out on his own bed, running shorts still on, but topless, skin still shining lightly with sweat from his run. The picture was from his nose down, a smirk on his lips.

His stomach was stupidly cut as usual, chest broad, biceps bulging on the arm he had across his body so his fingers could tug down the waistband of his shorts.

The v lines of strong muscles of his lower torso lead Dele’s eyes down to where Eric’s cock was pushing a firm line up in his shorts, the thick head of it visible from where he’d tugged the small running shorts down. 

Dele inhaled for what felt like the first time in a good few minutes, biting down on his lip before he licked over them. 

Christ Eric would be the death of him he was sure. 

Dele never knew it could all be this good till he and Eric started this whole thing together- sure he’s loved sex since his first time really. 

Dele thrived off physical affection and connection, so being intimate with anyone felt like it recharged him- it had been an important part of every past relationship. 

What he hadn’t expected, when he and Eric had sex for the first time, was how much better it could feel when combined with true genuine feelings. Sure he’d loved his ex’s, or at least he thought he did at the time, but with Eric- it was different, it was as if they were made for each other, they just matched perfectly, in a way that seemed impossible to be true. 

Sometimes Dele felt like he’d been waiting all his years to get to Eric, as sappy as it sounded- he felt like they were set from the start, with how quickly they became inseparable. 

Something else Dele hadn’t expected was how good it felt to be taken care of, it had been scary, at first, To be vulnerable in a way that he never had before- it was confronting to be given the option of the one being fucked rather than fucking. It was a crude way to look at it maybe but it was true.

After just the first few times messing around with Eric, Dele knew it was something he wanted, to see how it felt, to be the focal point of Eric’s attention, to be made feel good, not having to be in control. 

The choice to switch, to have each night be different, be what they needed, it made it feel as though Dele had unlocked a whole new world of how to feel good. It didn’t hurt that Eric knew exactly what he was doing and knew how to drive Dele a bit crazy, and Dele was pretty confident in his own ability to effect Eric, so together it was like fireworks.

Dele: you’re the biggest tease alive, get naked for me, proper pls I wanna see all of you 

Eric: yeah? 

Dele: yes Eric please come on you know I miss u 

Eric: aw you miss me? What do you miss about me?

Dele: your hands, your mouth, your body, everything- come on

Eric: and?

Dele: and what?

Eric: and you miss…. 

Dele: oh my god you’re an actual child, your cock I miss your cock- now that I’ve gotten your ego nice and big can you focus on making me cum?

Eric: I was thinking my personality but that works too. 

Dele: ugh can the other Eric come back? The one that gave me a filthy description of the blowjob I gave him and made me hard enough to have to sneak away to get myself off?

Eric: …. did you get hard in front of them?

Dele: yes you fuck, you decided to turn our harmless texting into dirty talk so I had to make some excuse and use my shirt to hide that I had a semi, thanks 

Eric: fuck that’s hot

Dele: so do something about it

His mouth was dry, lips parted as he breathed heavily, fingerings curled anxiously around his phone as he waited for Eric to finally give him what he wanted. He knew the other man was holding it out of reach, purposely not giving Dele what he had teased him into in the first place. 

Dele let out a small while when a minute passed with no reply, he tapped his thumb on his phone's home button, before tapping at his screen to quickly pull open snapchat. 

With his free hand, Dele tugged his cock properly out of his shorts, not bothering to push them off properly but just leave the waistband bunched under his balls. A half pained whimper fell from Dele’s lips as he finally got a proper hand on himself, pulling up in a tight slow tug, shivering at the sensation. 

It was a drag of pure pleasure, the nerve endings in his body sparking and lighting up and making the skin at the back of his neck tingle, toes curl. 

Dele angled his camera to capture the movement of his hand, held down to record the slow pull of his hand, just a few seconds, enough to tease Eric. A soft moan fell from his lips just before he shut off the recording, clicking carefully to make sure he sent the video to Eric and Eric only, before he clicked back to their texts. 

Two new texts were waiting for Dele when he returned to the message thread

Eric: “impatient boy”

Eric “I’m all yours now, needed to shower anyway, told the boys to start cooking breakfast without me so I can get away with taking some time with you” 

Dele grinned, feeling stupidly sappy over the fact Eric had made sure he had a cover story so the boys wouldn’t think he was getting himself off. 

Sure Dele has essentially doing the exact same thing, but the fact Eric wanted to make sure they could focus on each other for just this section of time, that meant everything. 

Dele was sure he would always feel a little overwhelmed by how consistently Eric put him first, how he ensured that when he gave Dele time, it wasn’t ever just half arsed. 

The phone buzzed twice again before Dele could begin to reply, and he smirked at having the upset hand again. 

Eric: fuck me 

Eric: Fuck, Del. almost dropped my phone, I miss your cock so much, wish I was there to make you feel good, would pin you to that bed, get my hand on you, spit on it to make sure it’s nice and wet like you like baby 

Dele: yeah yeah I want that so bad Eric, fuck, please I wanna see you, let me see you 

It didn’t take long for two images and one video to pop up in the chat, Dele opening them quickly, licking his lips in anticipation. The two pictures were extremely similar, both pictures of Eric in the mirror of the bathroom, the first one he still had his small running shorts on, a cheeky smile tucked on his face. 

The second one the shorts were gone completely, just the gorgeous length of his torso uninterrupted by fabric showing off his hips, thighs and most importantly his hard cock curved up against his stomach. Dele curled toes in craving as he let out a sharp breath, squeezing his cock when he carefully looked over the picture once more, shiver as he felt his dick throb. 

“Fuck” he whispered to himself as he swiped across the screen to the video. He worked his hand in a faster but steady pace, careful to not pay attention to the wet head of his cock, knowing that would be his undoing if he let himself touch where he liked it the most.

“Eric” Dele exhaled, unable to keep the time of want from his lips as he watched the ten seconds video, letting it replay over and over. Eric was in the shower when he took it, water running down over his body, hand loosely around his dick, thumb rubbing at the slit.

Embarrassingly it made Dele’s mouth water, a pang emptiness going through him as he ached to wrap his mouth around Eric or get him inside his body. He wanted Eric to stretch him out either way, make his mind go blank with pleasure. 

“Please” Dele texted back, hand trembling as his pulse thudded heavily through him, sweat beginning to collect at the base of his neck along his hairline. 

Eric: please what

Dele: please give me it, want u so badly I can’t think straight

Eric: it's all yours, it’s for you Del, only you make me feel this good

Dele shivered and a heat rolled over him as he read the text, squeezing his cock when it twitched against his palm.

Dele: if it’s mine then I want u in my mouth, wanna suck you like I did that day, made u weak in the knees w/my mouth, take you all the way as soon as I get my mouth on u I wanna choke on it, feel how big you are 

Eric: fuck Del, I want that too, get my hand in your hair, keep you right there. feels so good 

Dele: are you pretending it’s my mouth?

Eric: yeah, but my hand doesn’t feel nearly as good I want your mouth so bad, it would be so hot and wet. Always so good for me 

Dele: use some spit, want you to fuck your hand like it’s my mouth ok? Make me feel good Eric, fill my mouth up I want it so bad, it’s all I’ve been thinking about this week

Eric: fuck, god I will give it to you, I will, I want it too, been thinking about your mouth, your hands- the sounds you make when I fuck you, all of it. Want you 

Dele: wish I could taste you

Eric: are you touching yourself?

Dele: yeah

Eric: how?

Eric: Your mouth feels so good on me

A video came through them and Dele let out a muffled wine, bit at his wrist to stop himself from being too loud. 

It was Eric fucking his fist, in the shower but out of the spray of water, one arm above him, hand stretched out out to press flat to tiles of the wall, looking down at his hand as he fucked his hips forward in slow dirty grinds of his fist. 

Jesus. 

He must have set the phone on something to get that full body angle. Dele didn’t care to think about that in the moment, appreciative of the gorgeous full picture of Eric braced against the wall, hovering over his hand like he would Dele’s mouth, watching obsessively as he filled it with his thick cock over and over. 

The bulge of Eric’s biceps alone in the video made Dele watch it a few more times over, wishing he was there to sink his teeth or nails into them, get Eric to make that sound when Dele made it hurt a bit, see the way his eyes would go dark with it. 

Dele’s hips began to push up without thought, chasing the tightness of his hand as he licked at his lips, mouth wet and body aching, sweat drenched now as he thought of Eric imagining his mouth to get himself off. 

Dele sent a picture back in reply instead of explaining, a semi blurry image of his hand on his cock, sending it off to Eric quickly.

He let his phone to drop to his bed for a second and reached across the bed to the bedside table, riffling around till he found his wallet, pulling out a sachet of lube he learned to keep in there at all times when he started dating Eric. 

Once Dele’s hand was slick, the small foil packet thrown carelessly to the side, he wrapped it around his aching cock, eyes fluttering shut at the relief of the smooth glide around he began to move his hand once more. “Fuck” Dele moaned out, trying to keep his voice quiet while the world was melting behind his eyelids, pleasure thick in his veins. 

The buzz of his phone made Dele refocus, scrabbling for it with his free hand, taking it in his palm to open his messages with a press of his thumb. 

Eric: god

Eric: wish I could do that for you 

Eric: but I thought you wanted to blow me?

Dele frowned and went to reply but more messages shuffled in. 

Eric: need to fill your mouth Del 

Eric: you want to be good for me right?, after teasing me?

Eric: so I think you should suck me off to get off

Dele’s chest flushed and he felt his cock throb in his hand at the words, a cold shiver cutting down the heat of his spine, instinctively sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. His hand worked slowly over his length as his eyes flickered across the messages once more, kids low and eyes hazy. 

God he’d give anything to get on his knees for Eric right now- as much as he’d never give the over man the pleasure of knowing that, Dele felt desperate for him, so fuckinf hard he couldn’t think straight, mouth feeling empty, an ache pulsing through him right to his fingers. 

Dele ambled off the bed, slipping his shirt, pants and boxers off before he kneeled at the side of the bed, facing toward the small bedside table. Hastily he placed his phone there, leaning against the lamp so that it would stay. 

The carpet pinched at Dele’s knees almost immediately and he had to take his hand off his cock for a moment, take slow breaths as he stopped himself from coming fast. He felt filthy on his knees of this room, so wound up over messages, desperate with the need to feel like he had Eric to stretch his mouth around and fill up his mouth.

Dele got record on a video and wrapped his hand back around his slick cock, working it in a tight hold, the skin burning hot to the touch. He ran his hand up his chest, fingers tugging at his nipple for just a second, Heat spreading like a volcano cracked open and the molten lava was just lazily spilling out and burning up over everything. 

Dele finally bought his fingers to his mouth, brushing over his lips before he sucked three of his fingers in, easily taking them down to the last knuckle, eyes closing as relief and satisfaction flooded him, cock making a mess of wentess against his hand. 

He let out a small moan around his fingers, pushing down on his tongue to feel saliva flood into his mouth, eyes fluttering under his lids as he completes the picture in his mind. The smell of Eric, heady and hot, the way he tastes, the feeling of his hands in Dele’s hair, on his face, his neck. The way Eric would touch and touch, how he’d look down at Dele like he was a god, like Dele was the whole universe. Dele whined then, toes curling as he bared his knees down harder into the carpet, relishing the burn of it.

“Eric” he mumbled around his fingers, head dropping down a little as he sucked at his fingers, saliva wetting his lips, hand just squeezing at his cock now, too close to move it too much. 

Dele forced himself to take his hand off his cock, already missing the pressure of it as he quickly wiped his hand on is hip and stopped the video. With a few taps he sent it to Eric, trembling as he got his hand back on himself, sucking on his fingers a bit sloppier as he waited eagerly for Eric’s reply. 

It didn’t take long and Dele leant in closer to the bedside table to read the messages, head feeling hazy as he pushed his fingers a little further into his mouth, unable to help himself now that he’d started. 

Eric: baby

Eric: you’re killing me 

Eric: not as good as me is it, doing so good, I love seeing you make yourself feel good Del, you’re so gorgeous you know that? Drive me fucking crazy 

Eric: wish I was there with you, give you the real thing you need, wouldn’t have to settle for that, make you feel so good. You have no idea how much I want you, Del, need you. 

Eric: how did I get so lucky with you, I love you so much

Eric: I’m so hard right now Del I need you 

Dele groaned out, the heat in his gut tugging and threatening to explode, hand trembling where he touched himself. He leant forward and pressed his head to the cool wooden top of table, a relief against his hot skin. 

The room felt stifling now, beads of sweat low on Dele’s back, the only sound was his heartbeat hammering hard in his own ears, the slick filthy wet sound of his cock fucking up into his fist, the sound of his lips sliding over his fingers. 

Dele pulled back, again taking his hand away from himself with a small whimper to grab his phone, fingers a little wet with lube as he tapped at the screen. 

Dele: I’m so close eric please 

Eric: me too, feels so good, thinking about your pretty mouth for me, just for me

Dele: yeah god I want that the second ur home I’m getting on my knees for u 

Eric: fuck 

Dele: please Eric I want to see you come, I want you to come for me 

Eric: yeah, fuck 

Dele hastily took another picture of himself, of his fingers in his mouth, eyes wide and wild, lips swollen, he was a sight even to himself, shocked at how wanting he looked.

He sent it to Eric and shivered, his cock heavy and pulsing against his stomach, dripping now. He stopped himself from touching as he waited for Eric’s reply, fingers curled against his tongue. 

Eric: fukc I’m going to come han g on 

Dele let out a pained sound and finally let himself touch, wanting to cry at the relief of getting a hand around himself once more. His phone buzzed loud against the wood of the table, making his eyes jump up to look at the message. 

It was a video and Dele was quick to tap it open, taking his fingers from his mouth to hit play. His mouth dropped open and his now free hand came to grip the table as he watched the screen. Eric looked painfully hard, cock red and thick as he tugged at it with a tight fist, the head leaving a wet mess on his firm stomach, the sound of his heavy breaths ringing in Deles ears. 

Dele matched Eric’s pace, knees aching as he braced forward on the bedside, hand gripping hard to the edge and his muscles strained, trembling slightly with the exertion. A bead of sweat rolled off his brow as he watched, fixated on the video on Eric, licking his lips in a cheap effort to replace being able to taste him. He was painfully close now, whimpering and tightening his hand, pleasure building to peak quickly.

From the phone, the sound Eric’s breath changed, his hand moved to the head of his cock, thumb working circles and Dele knew he was close, only seconds away from tumbling over that same edge himself. “Please” be begged to no one, eyes wet as he turned his head to bite down on the soft skin of his inner bicep, muffling the sobs willing to spill out. 

“Dele, Del. Fuck”, Dele’s eyes fixed themselves to the phone as Eric’s voice rang out from the screen, his hand gripping tight as his thick cock throbbed heavily and he came, all over his stomach, squeezing out every drop onto his skin. 

Dele gasped as he came, slumping forward as he began to spill wet and messy over his fingers, the carpet, the dressing table, gasping for breath as it rocked through him. Heat pushed up from the base of his cock through his stomach, down his arms, lit a fire in his chest, his eyes rolled back and his lids closed right, face crumpled in overwhelmed pleasure as he shook through it. 

“Fuck fuck Eric fuck” he sobbed out, a few tears rolling down his face as he released the skin he had caught hard between his teeth as he came and leant his weight entirely onto the bedside table, gasping out for breaths. 

His ears were blocked out, even his own racing heart rate sounded distant and warped, his fingers were tired and loose in grip, toes curling, cock throbbing with the aftershocks.

“Fuck” he mumbled to himself again, managing to drag himself onto the bed with aching muscles, collapsing out into a starfish as he let the afterwaves of pleasure rock through him slowly, mind clear and a stupid smile on his face. 

An unknown number of moments passed and Dele was teetering on the edge of sleep almost when his phone buzzed off to the left of him. Eric. 

Dele sighed blissfully,with heavy muscles, forced himself to reach over and pick it up, crafting a message of his own before he read Eric’s. He snapped a couple pictures of the mess he’d left, of the floor and himself, smirking as he sent them off to Eric, exhausted and satisfied. 

He let his eyes close for a few moments, breathing slow as he listened to the sound of the messages send off. After a few moments he blinked his heavy eyes open to read the message on the illuminated screen. 

Eric: I want to see you love

Dele: …...you just saw pretty much all of me there is to see? 

Eric: pick up my call x 

Dele rolled his eyes at the off beat answer, about to text Eric why, when his phone began to buzz with a call.

Dele accepted it quickly, despite his confusion, talking before the image of Eric had even loaded up. “You couldn’t be bothered to call me when you were getting me off but now you have time for a FaceTime?” He asked, laughing as he watched Eric’s frowny face pop up and fill the screen, the man in the process of wiping his hands and chest clean. 

His voice was a bit crackly through the phone, but Dele melted at hearing his familiar voice nonetheless. “Not really, actually, the boys are probably wondering where I am and I didn’t exactly think I could stop myself from getting carried away if I face timed you..” Eric shrugged. 

“It wouldn’t be enough to see you like that, the faces you make, the way you move and not be able to touch you. You know? Different in pictures and videos and stuff, when it’s you right there makes me crazy with how much I want you” he explained, smiling softly, a little disappointed to see that Eric was back in his shorts. 

“Then why are you calling me now?” Dele yawned out, glazed over eyes watery and soft, sated from orgasm. 

God, Eric loved when he looked like this, all gentle and warm and like he needed to be taken care of. 

As much as Dele usually likes a cuddle and to be looked after, he never seeks it out more than after an orgasm. Eric would never get enough of Dele whimpering or gazing at Eric as they lay exhausted in bed or on the couch- a few times in the car, with big eyes, until he got settled in his arms, held tight. 

Sometimes he thought he loved it more than Dele did, it felt so nice to be the one that Dele trusted, who he seeked out for affection and comfort when he really wanted it, that he’d never hide from showing Eric that he wanted him. 

Eric hummed, scratching through his short hair as he looked away from the screen. “Guess I just couldn’t help myself, when you sent those pictures- that’s going to be a bitch toget out of the carpet by the way- i don’t know I just, wanted to see you, like I miss fucking you, and stuff but I also really miss this, like just being close with you after and stuff” Eric shrugged again, words more jumbled that usual, eyes low as he worried his teeth over his lip. 

Jesus, Dele wanted to kiss his flushed cheeks right through the screen, as if he should be embarrassed for something so sweet it made Dele’s stomach all fizzy. 

“Reckon I might have missed this too, Jadon doesn’t give very good cuddles” Dele replied, teasing but tone soft. 

His fingers played at the edge of his duvet as he watched Eric sneak a glance up and his face bloom into a smile upon seeing Dele’s warm expression.

“Yeah” Eric agreed voice soft, running his fingers over his stomach in absent lines out of view of the camera, touching his skin pretending it was Dele’s instead. 

“Yeah, uh, I usually just clump a few pillows together y’know? Give that a cuddle. But they are a lot less squirmy than you, don’t kick me in the shins with their cold feet either” he continued, smiling at the way Dele’s mouth dropped open in fake shock. 

“I am not squirmy and do not kick, but I did have you considered maybe you just need to get better at holding me” Dele huffed back in reply, laughing at his words. 

“What are you getting up to now?” Eric asked after a few soft moments and Dele blinked back into reality, giving a shrug as he curled up into his bed covers. 

“Wanna sleep after that, might just have a kip and then sort some dinner, what about you?” Dele yawned again, rubbing a hand over his face. 

“Sounds like a good plan Del- Think we are going to find some breakfast and then head to a beach with Clay, not much really, relaxing” Eric shrugged easily, eyes scanning Dele’s face, taking in the softness of his features even through the screen. 

“Yeah? Sounds lovely” Dele’s ‘wish I was there’ went unspoken, but it lay heavy in silence as the men watched each other, both tangled in sheets of separate beds, imagining being next to each other. 

“Yeah” Eric mumbled, smiling softly as he gazed at Dele, unable to help himself, he’d really began to feel the distance between them and he missed him, unabashedly- he couldn’t help it. 

“Dier” Dele said 

“Yeah” Eric replied, smile still on his face

“Stop staring at me, go hang out with Clay and have some food alright? Only a little over a week yeah? Then it’s me and you again” Dele teased, eyes mapping the broadness of Eric’s chest once more, like he’d forget it somehow if he didn’t. 

“I can’t wait” Eric said, words painfully honest, not bothering to front like he wasn’t counting down to being back with Dele, he was past that really. 

“Stop it you’ll make me get an early flight” Dele frowned, he never would, not really he had plans filled up till the day he finally arrived home, but hearing that Eric was needing him as much as he needed Eric, it did tempt him. 

“Mm come to me I’ll make it worth your while” Eric smirked, wiggling his eyebrows lazily. 

“Alright big boy, I’m not that easy for it, you just got me off, that’s not going to make me fly over to you” Dele grinned, shaking his head as he pulled the covers of the bed up over his shoulder, burrowing into the pillow. 

“What do you take me for hmm? Don’t know what you’re used to Dier, some football groupies throwing themselves at your feet, not me I’m not that kind of girl” Dele laughed despite himself, not thinking about the fact he’d just sucked his own fingers in substitute for Eric being able to fill his mouth. 

“Yeah yeah yeah I know just what girl you are Del” Eric laughed, looking off screen where the clatter of paws on floor could be heard. 

“Clay, Clay come here” Eric called our softly, and dele hid his smile in the fabric of his covers. The slight twang of difference to Eric’s voice, tinted by his youth in Portugal, was always obvious when he called the dogs, and it made Dele’s heart a bit stupid. 

“Hi buddy” Dele cooed when the blond dog sniffles his way onto the screen, before giving Eric a big lick on the cheek. “At least Clay is there to give you kisses” Dele laughed, hand pressing to his chest where his heart was aching a bit. He missed his boys, he wanted to be with them, tucked under Eric’s other arm, face to his solid chest as Clay curled up with them, resting in the sun. 

“Love you” Dele mumbled, tucking his face down under the line of his duvet, so just his eyes and nose were visible. 

“Love you” Eric echoed back easily, petting his hand slowly down Clay’s back, scratching him gently. 

“Was talking to Clay” Dele said quietly, blinks slowing as he felt sleepiness seep through him. 

“Me too” Eric replied, smiling at the tired image Dele painted, well in need of a proper sleep, he was sure. 

“Ok” Dele retorted, closing his eyes for a few seconds. 

“Sleep Del” Eric said softly, taking a quick screenshot of the call to capture the image of his tired boy, glad no one else was around to see his sappy expression as he gazed at him.

“Ok” Dele mumbled back, nodding sleepily as he forced his eyes open once more, catching Eric’s eyes through the skin. 

“Night sweetheart” Eric whispered, watching Dele drift into sleep, body going lax. 

“Night meu amor” Dele managed to get out, his pronunciation sloppy but the meaning there, Eric shaking his head at the simple words that never failed to make his chest warm.

Everytime Dele says it, Eric thinks of the very first time he did, the pair of them wrapped around each other in a sun chair, the first time he’d ever taken Dele to where he grew up. 

They’d been sipping on wine, Eric talking to Dele about this place he wanted to take him for dinner, promising he’d love it even if it sounded a bit “dodgy” according to Dele. 

After like fifteen minutes of Eric detailing the dishes, Dele had huffed sharply and spun around to face Eric properly, cupping his face in his hands with a half drunk, all happy smile. “Whatever you want meu amor, just please don’t say shrimp again or I’ll have to bite you” Dele had breathed and kissed Eric’s nose with a small little teasing nip. Dele had laughed his way through the words, giggled them off into Eric’s skin, like it was ridiculous. Eric hasn’t expected his heart rate to spike, his hands to grip Dele tighter and his stomach to flip around. 

It had been early days in their relationship still, and Eric was still attempting to fathom how things were so good, how they actually were able to move past friends to this- how this was even better. To hear Dele calling him ‘my love’ in Portuguese hit in his chest in a way he hadn’t anticipated. He’d kissed Dele silly till they’d spilled out of the chair they were sat on, falling on top of each other. Safe to say it had been a thing since then. 

“Call you tomorrow” Eric promised, kissing the top of Clay’s head in substitute for Dele, wishing he hold be on the other side of the screen for even just a second. 

He just wanted long enough to press his lips to the crown of Dele’s forehead, feel the curls of his hair press to his nose and upper lip, smell the scent of his skin and shampoo. It felt like a craving almost, a want for a particular taste that would only be satisfied by that exact thing. 

“Tomorrow” Dele agreed with a yawn, puckering his lips in a lazy imitation of a blowing a kiss before he hung up, Eric watching Dele’s face right until the image faded away. 

“Dier c’mon you’re gonna make us late let’s go go go” 

Jan’s voice can hollering up the stairs and Eric rolled over onto his front, letting out a groan. He stole ten more seconds for himself, counting them out in his head as he pretended for just a few minutes longer. Just ten more seconds to imagine he was curled in the same bed as Dele, the boy happily asleep against his chest. Home. Eric missed home. 

“Alright mate coming” Eric called back, finally pulling himself out of his bed, stumbling over to the bathroom to make sure he was properly cleaned up before he got changed. 

If he wore one of the T-shirt’s he stole from Dele’s wardrobe the morning he left from the airport, no one needed to know.


	5. Back With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric is in Greece, Dele has left LA, Eric has an idea to solve their problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy FUCKIE!! we did it. This fic sat for so long in my docs, as I travelled, when I got home, I chipped away at it in small pieces but it didn't feel right until just recently. I managed to bang out about 15k over the past few days because my love for this fic re-sparked and I just had to get it done. My goal was by the end of the year and by the skin of teeth I have somehow done it.
> 
> There are thank you’s in order here!!!!
> 
> firstly thank you to Tina for her support and helping me figure out how to best navigate this fic and assure my the plot made sense as worked. Also a huge thank you to Mika @delericus for being an amazing help and editing this for me so quickly and helping me with all my spelling and grammatical errors lol ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️. and another thank you to Bea, @Thefutureduchessmarie for being an angel and helping me with the Portuguese and making sure I didn’t let google do me dirty! 
> 
> also one last big kisses and thank you to all of you for waiting for me and this and being patient with me to get this right. This series is my fav thing I have written and I want to make sure I ended it right for you all <3 more than ever, comments and kudos would mean so so so much to me, more than I can explain! sad to see this fic be done, I hope the ending feels right for you all <3
> 
> Here are all the prompts included in this one that I also had in my inbox <3 
> 
> “we’ve been at it like rabbits how are you still horny?”
> 
> Dior top included 
> 
> “I can feel you everywhere”
> 
> “I want to make love to you” 
> 
> “Can I at least take my shoes off before you pounce on me?”
> 
> “If you don’t start getting undressed I may just rip your shirt in half”
> 
> “Kisses exchanged as they move around, nearly tipping over before making it to the bed”
> 
> “You did all of this for me?"

Eric had done ten laps of the large hotel suite, the morning sun beaming in warm rays of light through the large windows of the white wooden framed balcony doors. From the distance, soft music floated in from a patio below him, or maybe even from a live band in the bistro on the bottom floor of the hotel. 

With a huff, Eric eyed the small clock on the bedside table, and noted the numbers were only glowing one digit of a difference since the last time he looked. 

Eric was about to go for lap eleven when his eyes caught on frame of the bathroom door. Shower, a nice hot shower- there was an idea. He abruptly turned and walked across the soft carpet to the large white tiled en-suite. He reached back and tugged up on his shirt to strip the material off his body, dropped it lazily to the floor before he stepped out his sweats and boxers, leaving a pile of clothing underneath him. 

His body thrummed with nervous energy as he walked naked over to the shower. His fingertips were unsteady where he twisted the dial almost all the way to the red letters that spelt out ‘hot” in small, neat capitals. Eric stepped back from the shower, exhaled slowly through pursed lips before he stretched his arms above his head as he waited for the pouring water to heat up. 

The long extension of his arms gave a pleasant burning stretch to the tension wound tight in his shoulders. He rocked up higher onto the balls of his feet and arched his back further in a lazy lean back. After a few moments held in that pose, he relaxed his body and let his arms fall to his sides once more, a soft grunt falling from his mouth at the release. 

Stretching his neck in a slow roll from side to side, Eric let his eyes drift around the bathroom for the first time since he entered the suite, just now noticing how massive it was. It was all white and sandstone, with bright accents of emerald green and cerulean blue, thick fluffy towels piled high on the wooden rack. The large double sink vanity was well stocked with soaps and body lotion, shampoo and conditioner, white packaging with gold accents that Eric was sure was accompanied by a high price tag. 

The penthouse suite was not really what Eric had pictured when he looked for hotel rooms, thinking just something simple, inconspicuous. Really the only things on his checklist for them been a bed and room service. However, with the extremely short notice of the booking, it was the only room left for the night. He was fortunate enough to not have to worry about the extravagant price tag that accompanied it and booked it without too much thought. 

Besides, the California king bed in the photos had looked so perfect, Eric might have gotten a bit distracted at the thought of getting Dele on the white duvet, tossing the far too many pillows to the floor to spread Dele out as he moaned into his mouth. 

Eric twisted his upper torso to right in a stretch, shoulders turning while his waist stayed still, his muscles rippled with the movement. He looked back at his reflection in the large mirror that sat above the vanity counter, eyeing his own body. The downlights in the bathroom were starkly bright and highlighted each freckle and mark on his skin, tanned from his summer holiday. Eric ignored the running shower and turned the full way around to look over himself properly in the mirror. 

He ran a hand down his torso, wondered absently if he should trim his chest hair or leave it, skimmed his fingertips down past his belly button and over the hair that lead to his groin. Maybe he should shave there too he thought, it had been a little while since he had. Eric entertained the idea for a few moments, knowing it wouldn’t take too long, but then he realised he wasn’t sure he bought the right head for his electric razor with him anyway. Even if he did, he had no idea where it would be in his case, and he couldn’t be bothered to waste time digging around to find it. 

Eric sighed and shrugged his shoulders at his own reflection. He knew Dele didn’t have a preference, so it didn’t matter, not really, but he couldn’t help but feel like he needed to look extra good for Dele. It had been a long time apart, for them anyway, and he was a bit not so subtly desperate to be with Dele once more. 

Eric felt filled to the brim with energy, nervous excitement that prickled under his skin, a feeling of need that he couldn’t run off or exhaust, he didn’t really know what to do with himself. 

It felt like the early days of their relationship when things were still intensely new and private and they couldn’t get enough of each other. The only people that had known back then, were Eric’s mother and Dele’s brother. 

In the beginning, they’d wanted to keep it quiet, something just for them until they knew exactly what it was until they could put a name on it. So it had been a lot of stolen moments, time together where they could find it, heading to each other houses after training but still arriving separately the next morning to buffer any suspicion. 

Things were different now, the team knew, a handful of the boys they were close to had been told outright by them, while the rest they sort of just figured it out. To both men’s relief, no one had a problem with it, in fact, the support, no matter how small or subtle had been overwhelming in the best kind of way. More than anything it was nice to be able to touch and kiss and not have to look over their shoulder every other moment or hold themselves back from each other. 

But now in a hotel room, vibrating with energy, anticipation thick in his stomach, hands, back of his neck as he waited for Dele to arrive, it really felt like the best part of the early days. When it was all so new and good and “oh my god I didn’t know I could feel this much”. In the beginning when small brushes of hands, moments that could be passed off as friendly had to tide them over till they found time alone. 

It was a constant undercurrent of knowing there was a ‘later’. Later when they are all alone they can take each other apart and put each other back together again. Later when they would be able to kiss and kiss till Eric’s jaw hurt with it. Later when he could tangle his fingers with Dele’s, bite at his collarbone when he would brag about winning FIFA. Later when it would be something so simple as just being able to watch Dele without worrying, not having to monitor the affection that felt like it rolled off him in waves. 

And now, years later- Eric was again waiting in aching excitement for ‘later’. For the moment they could be together, away from prying eyes, fake pretences for stupid paparazzi trying to get a good story for the tabloids, from expectations, all of it. Just Eric and Dele. 

The pair had gotten good at spending time apart. They had come to accept that it was a small negative of their blessed career. They may have stretches of endless weeks and months together, but between injury and summer break they may have weeks apart. 

Recently, however, it had gotten harder, it felt like they were ships in the night, when one was fit to play, the other wasn’t. The days apart easily became a month without seeing each other, sometimes a few rare days together before another week apart. 

Towards the end of the season, they’d finally had a good block of time together. But then all of the sudden, the break was coming up- they’d already made separate plans, hadn’t anticipated that they would have spent so much of the season apart. They had very quickly been faced with weeks apart and while initially, Eric had been confident that they would be okay, busy with their own breaks- the separation had started to ache. 

At first, it had just been an occasional dim throb when he was reminded of him, a small simmer of pain behind his sternum, Like when a song Dele loved would play. Or he’d pull a shirt out of his suitcase that was Dele’s or see a Snapchat of him messing around in LA. 

Then it started to be a steady pain, a soft patch of embers that glowed orange, a constant feeling of missing part of him. Subtle, like a song playing in the background, clear enough to just barely make out the words, but enough to tune out when focused intently on something else. 

In the past week, the pain of missing Dele had become painfully crystal clear. It was a sharpness wedged right between the spaces of his ribs. A hollow, empty ache that sat in the very pit in his stomach, ate at him when he tried to read, watch a movie, have some drinks, go to dinner. 

He was enjoying himself but he was also aware of how much he wanted Dele by his side. It was like a physical ache, something in his chest, his heart was beating a bit different, his breaths were out of sync, his steps weren’t in time.

The world was a few degrees off-kilter and Eric felt it constantly. 

Ultimately that’s what had lead to the last minute suite in a hotel only a twenty-minute drive from the airport. 

The missing had gotten too much, far too much to carry, and the idea of waiting another week and a half after he got home for Dele to return, seemed nothing short of impossible. 

One night over facetime, Eric had mentioned how rubbish they were at planning, missing each other by a day in Greece. Off the cuff, Dele had replied with a small shrug and glowing eyes, a cheeky smile and said “Just stay an extra day to romance me, Romeo”. The words were teasing and playful and he quickly moved on to tell a story about something Jandon had said earlier that day. 

The idea had stuck though, words thrown out in the wind that had caught and tangled, echoed over Eric’s brain through the rest of his day. It wouldn’t be that hard, he knew that, he could change his flight by one date. The only real issue was that he’d only have a few days after flew in before starting pre-season. It was tight, considering the few interviews and family commitments he had in that week, but it was doable. 

It if it meant almost a full day and night with Dele, Eric couldn’t really think of anything that would be a valid enough reason to stop him from making that happen. 

He’d changed the flights and accommodation that night, booked a hotel close to the airport to make it easy for himself the next day. Then it was only a matter of telling Dele. While he’d debated over the best way to do it, maybe just surprise him and pick him up from the airport, he’d settled on a simple text, a screenshot of the confirmation email for the room and captioned it “ready for romance, Delboy?”

It had taken Dele around twenty minutes to see the message but all of thirty seconds to call Eric after he’d read it.

Dele had tried to play off his initial excitement, had actually told Eric off about it. Lectured him that Eric would be exhausted in pre-season training if he only gave himself a few days and that Harry was expecting him at the Airbnb that morning. 

Eric let him get it out of his system, he knew Dele could get flustered when he did things for them, romantic gestures, he guessed, for lack of a better word. It was like Dele got a bit overwhelmed, unsure what to do when Eric went out of his way for him and had to push back against the affection for a bit, before he could accept it. 

But at the end of the call, he’d told Eric his flight got in at eight am and he’d be at the hotel he’d booked them before half-past nine. His voice had been filled with quiet excitement, a happy rambling tone in his voice that Eric hadn’t heard in a while. Going off that he was pretty sure he’d done well.

Eric blinked heavily out of his thoughts, realised the bathroom had begun to fill with steam and turned away from the sink to step under the hot spray of water. The water pressure was incredible and he sighed at the way it melted at the tension he always carried high in his shoulders. He let his head drop forward and closed his eyes, breathed out slowly and tried to stop himself from listening for a knock at the door or a ring of his phone. Dele’s flight had only landed five or so minutes ago, he still had to get off the plane, get his luggage, Eric knew he was being impatient, driving himself a little crazy with it but he couldn’t help himself. 

A plume of heavy steam blew out from behind Eric as he pushed the bathroom door open, still dripping from his shower. One of the crisp, freshly washed hotel towels was secured around the low of his waist, tucked in a loose tie at his hip. The cool air of the hotel room washed over him as he padded out across the carpet, and he drew in a deep breath, anticipation prickled across his skin, goosebumps darting up along his forearms and the back of his neck. 

Eric was considering what to change into, digging through the options in his bag, wondering if sweats seemed lazy, if he needed a shirt or not, when he heard the buzz of a keycard over the lock. His head whipped up immediately, and his heart jumped into his throat, hand curled hard around the edge of his suitcase. 

Dele.

Eric stood up quickly, felt his stomach flip heavily and he swallowed hard, listened to each little click of the door as the handle pushed down with pressure from the other side. The slick sound of the door being pushed open, the rush of air that accompanied it.

Suddenly the pale cream colour of the door pulled away and Dele stepped through, a giddy smile on his lips as he tugged his suitcase in behind him, eyes falling to Eric immediately, brown seeking out its blue. 

Eric paused, eyes locked on Dele, stood there looking at him, looking like his home. 

His face was flushed, Leo Fortis cap on his head, in sweatpants and a deep red t-shirt with simple white lettering across the front. He looked as perfect as he ever did, and Eric’s vision blurred at the edges and for a millisecond the world slowed to a stop. He was caught in the moment, tangled up in the feeling of Dele being right there in front of him, of finally being in arms reach. 

Eric wanted this moment for himself, wanted the image of Dele standing in the hall of the hotel, a glow in his eyes as looked at Eric, just a few breaths away from each other. He wanted this moment so he could keep it, tucked away and safe, something he could keep safely in his pocket when things were bad or hard or sad- he wanted to be able to savour it like a warm sip of tea on a cold afternoon. Eric wanted to suspend the anticipation of Dele looking at him, that feeling of knowing the moment he wanted so much, was finally there. 

With a soft cough, Eric cleared his throat, blinked hard twice to fight the tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. “Come here then” Eric uttered softly, not really willing to wait any longer to have him in his arms. 

Dele was on him in a matter of seconds, cap still on his head, backpack still secure around his shoulders as he cleared the length of the room in a few long easy steps and flung his arms around Eric’s neck. The boy took a second before he jumped up easily into Eric’s arms, caught in the familiar grip of Eric’s hands firm on his thighs

“Hi” Eric mumbled and tucked his face firmly into the curve of Dele’s neck before he drew a long breath in, let the smell of Dele, of home, wrap around him like a warm blanket. No matter cologne, deodorant, body wash, the smell of Dele, his boy always smelt the same when he had nose pressed here, right against the skin of the neck. 

It was what their sheets at home smelled like and Dele’s jumpers or Eric’s after he wore them, and Eric had missed it more than he realised. Eric buried his nose further into Dele’s neck, breathed in deep again and squeezed his arms extra tight around Dele’s body, crushed him chest to chest as tears filled his eyes, unable to stop them spilling over. 

“Hi, hi” Eric mumbled out, voice shaking as he let out of laugh of disbelief, started to press kisses wherever his mouth could reach. 

“Amor, tive tantas saudades” Eric choked out between pecks of his lips, spun Dele around in a circle to feel his boy let out a loud happy laugh. 

His arms tightened around Eric’s neck as he yelled out “careful!! careful!!” as he gripped tighter to Eric to steady himself. 

“Missed you” Eric heard Dele’s whisper, and the sound Dele’s voice, clear and soft and not distorted by a phone made Eric’s heart jump. He pulled back to look at Dele, his eyes darted quickly over his face, across his tanned skin, deep chocolate eyes, button nose and pink lips, as perfect as ever and right there in front of him, in real life. 

“What are you staring at?” Dele whispered, eyes sharp and playful and Eric just laughed as he joined their mouths together, gave Dele only a second before he licked into his mouth, kissing him soundly. 

A moan passed between their lips that Eric was unsure who it came from, heat sparking in his gut as he chased the familiar taste of Dele’s mouth that he’d been craving. The kiss was messy and wet and on the edge of desperate, their teeth clashing once or twice as they tried to get more of each other. 

Dele pulled away with a breathless gasp, a wry smile on his lips with his cap pushed up and off centre on his forehead. Eric tried to chase his lips but Dele caught his face in one palm, thumb pressed behind Eric’s ear. 

“One second, one second’ Dele muttered, his eyes moved across Eric’s face in a quick flicker, lashes and cheeks wet with shed tears. 

“Ugly as ever” he mumbled, but the softness in his eyes betrayed him, the way his lips were pushed in a soft pout, how as much of him was touching as much of Eric as possible, hinted the exact opposite of his words.

Eric rolled his eyes, but one taste wasn't enough and he and leant in to target his kisses along the line of Dele’s throat, teeth, lips and tongue worked messily to taste the skin, Dele shivered with the feeling of it, his hand slid to the side of Eric’s neck, grip tightened as Eric dragged his mouth up to Dele’s ear. He couldn't help it, it had been so long without Dele, so long without him to touch and taste and me his he couldn't stop his mouth from seeking him out. 

“Can I at least take my shoes off before you pounce on me?” Dele sighed as he moved a hand to drag up over Eric’s buzzed hair, nails scratching in a way that he knew drove Eric crazy. The little shit. Eric bit down on Dele’s earlobe to hear the man squeak, squirming in Eric’s arms. 

“Ok, ok at least my backpack” Dele panted, voice shaky as Eric kissed his way back up to his mouth, catching him in another dirty kiss, shamelessly all tongue. 

Eric moved one arm to wrap under Dele’s arse, took all of his weight in it before his other hand moved to push at the straps of Dele’s backpack, pulled at it blindly as he dragged his tongue hotly across Dele’s. Dele nodded in the kiss, pulled his hands off Eric to quickly to drop the bag to the floor before his arms came around Eric’s neck once more, shifted his weight forward so his body was completely pressed to Eric’s. 

Eric stumbled blindly in the direction of where he believed the bed was, only made it a few steps before Dele let out a grunt into the kiss, his back having hit the wall. Eric used it to his advantage, to keep Dele pinned up against it and freed one hand to drag down Dele’s torso, heat pulsed through him as they kissed, the wet sound of their lips loud in the quiet hotel room. 

The thick fabric of the hotel’s towel dragged against Eric’s hardening cock as he grabbed Dele’s hip to press them together, the friction making him more desperate to feel Dele against him, all around him, he wanted to be inside him, to feel the heat of him and make him fall apart. 

Eric let out a husky groan when Dele began a slow drag of his hips, the rough drag of it maddeningly just not enough, it was too much fabric, too many layers between them. Eric’s hand moved to Dele’s arse, pulled him in with each of the boy’s thrusts to encourage the grinds of his hips. 

“Please” Dele’s voice was soft, sweet and higher pitch like it always got when he was needy for it, and Eric nodded. There was no time to be smug that Dele had finally shown he wanted it too, because the desperation pulsing through Eric was all-consuming. 

All he could do was nod, pressed his face forward into Dele’s throat, the skin smooth under his lips and teeth. “Baby” Dele muttered, his fingernails dragged across Eric’s shoulders as he tried to steady himself to get a better roll of his hips, to feel the thickness of Eric better. 

Eric nodded, pulled them away from the wall as Dele reached to pull Eric up to his lips by his cheek, licked into his mouth dirty and wet. Eric grunted into the kiss, unable to get enough of the sweet taste of Dele on his tongue, of his boy all over him and all around him like he’d been dreaming of for weeks.

Over the phone had just been a cheap imitation of the real thing, a ghost of pleasure of Dele’s warm body under his hands, feeling his little waist, how he sucked on Eric’s tongue, the way he whined without realising he was doing it when Eric kissed him right. To feel every breath, every tremble of muscle, feel how much Dele wanted him every movement, every part of him- nothing could get close to that. 

With a slight stumble over an unknown item on the floor, Eric landed up by the large wooden desk that sat under a wide window. The white wooden shutters were opened out into the morning air, letting the sun spill in over their bodies as Eric placed Dele down on the desk, his hands planted flat to either side of the boys head as he kissed Dele onto his back. 

They kissed as Dele’s legs wrapped around his waist, the material of his sweats covering his thighs caused the material of the towel to finally slip from where it was secured around his waist. 

It dropped to the floor with an almost silent thud and Eric let out a grunt when his cock made direct contact with Dele’s pants, almost too much but still good. Eric shifted his weight to one hand supporting him, his other hand coming up to push Dele’s shirt up his body, fingers grappling uselessly with the material like he could somehow take it off Dele without pulling away from the kiss. 

He eventually gave up the fight and pulled away with a soft sound, his lips brushed Dele’s as he spoke. 

“If you don’t start getting undressed I might rip your shirt in half” he mumbled, and Dele laughed, warm and fast, a flash of pretty white teeth as he nodded, rolled his hips up once more before he reached behind his head to grasp for the neck of his T-shirt. Eric couldn’t help himself and leant in to track the newly revealed skin with his lips, kissing and biting up the underside of Dele’s arm, the muscles of his triceps before he pulled away to let Dele pull the shirt off in a rush of red fabric. 

The American summer had done Dele well, the boy’s skin was a beautiful golden brown, deeper than usual, the dark caramel colour that Eric dreamt of at night, saw in flashes against white sheets, against his own skin. His tattoos always stood out more this way, when his skin acquired some summer colour the black lines and smudges of coloured ink somehow stronger and more noticeable. 

Eric muffled a moan as he leant down to kiss a path down Dele’s chest, small kisses that took him down the path of his toned body, teeth dragged over muscle as his hand skimmed up his sides, caught the contraction of Dele’s shaking inhale with a smirk. 

“Amor” Dele’s breath was a whisper and Eric just sucked a kiss by Dele’s belly button in reply before he continued the path of his lips down to the waistband of his sweats, hands moving to tug at the waistband. 

Dele’s heels dug into Eric’s upper back and used it as leverage to pick his hips up off the desk, fingers messily pushing at the material as Eric tugged them down. 

Dele let his hips drop when Eric got the material over his ass, his sweats coming off in one easy movement, Eric dropped them to the floor carelessly, quickly got his hands back on Dele’s waist, gripped where Dele was smallest, eyes dragged over the pretty shape of him. God, he loved his body, strong and soft all at once, lith and powerful, warm under his touch. 

“I fucking missed you” Eric grumbled, lips dragged over Dele’s skin as he peppered kisses down to the band of Dele’s boxers, fingers tucking into the material before he tugged down. 

“Missed you, missed you, missed you beautiful boy” Eric continued his praise, scratched his nails lightly down Dele’s side to feel the goosebumps bloom under his lips. 

“Please” Dele whimpered, his heel pressed into Eric’s shoulder once more, his hand moving to skim over Eric’s buzzed hair, scrambling for something to grip onto, only his fingernails finding Eric’s scalp in scratch. 

Eric shook his head and kept his lips on the soft skin below Dele’s belly button, dragged his teeth over it as his gaze flickered up Dele’s body to meet his desperate brown eyes, brow crinkled as he looked down at Eric. 

“Wanna get a look at you” he mumbled, mouth worked kisses lower as his fingers tugged his boxers down until his cock was free, sprung up to sit thickly against his stomach. Eric carefully avoided it as he kissed his way down to Dele’s thighs, tugged the boxers down until Dele helped him to kick them off, impatient with Eric’s slow pace in getting them off his legs.

Eric’s hand slid to catch Dele’s left thigh, lifted it up over his shoulder and turned his head to map the skin with his mouth, licked and bit across the sensitive skin, pressed his nose to the warmth of it as he worked on leaving a proper mark with teeth and tongue. 

He smelt fresh, like soap and he smirked as he dragged his mouth away from one blooming dark red spot to start on another hand gripped tight around Dele’s thigh. He could feel the boy’s muscles shaking under his touch, straining as his breaths got heavier, squirming against the desk. 

“Eric, Eric, please I can't- I can't just” he breathed with a whimper, his thighs dropped open further, and Eric smirked, slipped Dele’s thigh off his shoulder and moved to lean his arms against the table once more, hovering over Dele’s stomach, let out a breath that ghosted over Dele’s cock and Eric watched as it twitched heavily, red and full, Dele’s abdomen jumping underneath it. 

“I know, I know Del, I’ve got you okay? Let me take care of you, missed this so much” Eric whispered in a shaky breath and looked up to watch Dele nod desperately, a hiccuped breath passed his lips before he bit down on his bottom lip, eyes sharp as he watched Eric eyes wild and wanting. 

“I’ve got you” Eric repeated once more before his hand came up to wrap around Dele’s cock, his grip loose as he tugged at him, thumb brushed over the head of his cock and Dele’s breath stuttered, his fingers resting on Eric’s head twitched and grasped again, pads of his fingers brushing against the short spikes of his hair. 

“Yeah” Dele breathed, nodded his head and Eric kept his eyes locked with his boys as Dele’s mouth parted with a shaky inhale, his breath dragged cold over his wet bottom lip, goosebumps shot down his neck and back, toes curled as Eric’s hand worked over him teasingly. 

His touch was light, almost barely there, but enough to have Dele’s body sparking with heat, his eyes rolling and threatening to close, but he fought it with strong fluttering blinks, desperate to seek the blue of Eric’s eyes, to see the way he watched him. Dele loved himself through Eric’s eyes, it was impossible to look away when Eric was watching him, eyes full of love and care. It was addicting and when Dele had felt the absence of the stare for weeks now, he couldn’t bring himself to look away. 

“Baby” Eric breathed and Dele whimpered in response, his thighs twitched form where they were splayed against the table, ankle twitched with a small movement and his calf pulsed, a strain of muscle. 

“You’re so beautiful” he mumbled, a wry smile on his face like he was counting down the seconds to see the blush that bloomed across Dele’s face in steady time, across his nose and patterned down his chest in a red flush. 

Dele sighed and shook his head, drew his thumb across the crinkle by Eric’s right eye, heart pounding uselessly in his chest. “Shut up” Dele laughed, tried to hide the shake in his voice as Eric lowered his head down to lick up the length of his cock. 

Dele whined, swallowed thickly and his chest went tight, a heat already wound tight in the base of his stomach, sparks through to his fingertips. 

“Eric” he mumbled, his hand cupped his cheek as he fought to push his hips up when Eric took his cock into his mouth, wet and hot and good. Dele’s thighs trembled, swayed in to try and clench at Eric’s shoulders, but both of Eric’s hands came down to grab his thighs and push them back open and he took Dele deeper into the back of his throat. 

He watched in awe as Eric sucked him off, the hollow of his cheeks and the way his eyes were closed, lashes wet, hand at the base of Dele’s cock to cover the very base where his lips couldn’t reach, tugging in time with bobs of his head. 

Dele had to fight falling all the way into the pleasure, the muscles of his stomach jumped as Eric swirled his tongue around the head of his cock, the ecstasy so hot and thick in his veins that needed to came apart with, needed to fall into, not yet, not without Eric filling him up. 

“Eric, Eric- fingers, please I need, I want it” he begged, gasped when Eric took him deeper in his throat, swallowed around him and god Dele really wasn’t going to last if he kept that up. Dele gripped tight to Dele’s shoulder and pushed gently, the boy pulled away with ease. He took Eric into his hand as he moved his mouth to suck kisses over Dele’s hips and thighs. 

“I can’t- I won't last if you- I need you, your fingers and to be full of you please Eric, I need it” he rambled, words desperate and honest and Eric nodded, smoothed a hand up Dele’s stomach and chest, slid it back down to rest over Dele’s bellybutton as he kissed up his thighs. 

He rested his chin against Dele’s hip and smirked at him, felt the rapid rise and fall of Dele’s belly under his hand. He was so pretty, Eric thought as he watched him so pretty and he wanted to fuck him until he was crying. 

“Gotta get lube love, wait here ok? Eric whispered, pressed another kiss to Dele’s hip as the boy nodded, ran his hand over Eric’s buzzed hair a scrubbed a hand over the back of his eyes, had to stop himself from whining at Eric pulling away from him, despite knowing he’d be right back.

Dele watched as Eric walked away from him, sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and took his cock into his hand, tugging lazily as he let his eyes slip shut. He felt dizzy, mind frayed out, tried to focus on the press of the wooden table under his back, the sound of Eric rustling around in the bathroom, that he was coming right back to him, he wasn't miles away, in another country- he was just in another room. 

Dele’s breaths were shaky at best, going from the pleasure he’d been craving, to nothing at all and his body was aching for it, the own loose grip of his hand nowhere near enough to compare to how good Eric’s mouth had been. 

Thankfully, Eric walked back into the room a few seconds later and Dele felt the tightness in his chest ease, his hand reached for Eric who was quick to come back to him, run a hand down the outside of his thigh. 

“I know, M’right here” he mumbled, leant over to kiss Dele in small pecks, neither of them caring that he’d just had Dele in his mouth- it didn't matter more than being close to each other like this. 

Eric placed the small bottle of lube onto Dele’s tummy along with a condom, pressed a kiss to his chest before he stood up straight, each hand gripping one of Dele’s thighs. 

“Like this?” Eric asked, “here?” already reached for the bottle of lube and pushed the cap open with his thumb, drizzled it wet over the fingers of his right hand and Dele shook his head, reached for the condom and tossed it to the floor as he sat up, wrapped his arms around Eric’s neck and leant in to kiss him. 

They were both clean, and preferred not to use protection the only real benefit being a lack of mess and clean up, but Eric always gave him the choice, as Dele would with Eric. Dele didn’t want anything between them right now, with hours ahead of them he had time to clean himself up. It was the least of his concern, he wanted Eric, that was all that mattered. 

Eric hummed and dropped the lube to the table and wrapped one arm around Dele’s waist, tugged him so that he could wrap his legs around his waist, but Dele wiggled out of his grip, moved to slip off the desk and stood on shaky feet. 

He took a deep breath before he turned around to face the desk bent over to lean on his arms, arched his back and pushed his arse back, pressed against Eric who shivered and let out a low gasp. He rolled his hips to drag his cock against Dele’s arse, Eric’s hand moved to grip tight at Dele’s hip, held him still as he got lost in fucking his hips in slow rolls to get friction. 

Dele pushed back into it, dropped his head forward to rest against the desk as Eric’s cock pressed into his skin just shy of where he really needed him, where he needed fingers and cock and anything he’d give him. 

“Eric” Dele gasped, thighs trembled and he felt the pressure of Eric’s fingers in his next breath, wet and slick where they pressed against his hole, his other grabbing his cheek to expose him. He pressed one finger into Dele gently, the stretch made Dele gasp and drop further into his elbows, body weak as his fingers grappled at the table, tried to find something to grip. 

Eric worked up to a second and third finger quickly, Dele pushing back into it, with hiccuped breaths, his whole body burning with it. The stretch was just short of too much too soon, the thickness of three fingers felt like so much after a week of nothing. The pressure consumed him, only tethered to the world by where Eric was holding him. 

“I- It’s so” Dele mumbled out and his words trailed into a pant as he twisted his hips back into another thrust of Eric’s fingers. He felt so wet with it, thighs messy with the lube Eric has hastily spilt out to make the slide of his fingers easier, the slick sound obscene with each curl of Eric’s fingers. 

Eric hummed and nodded, leant in closer to Dele and brushed a kiss over the centre of his back, stayed pressed close as he increased the pace of his fingers, shamelessly fucking Dele onto his fingers like he would with his cock, his hand on his hips to help him push back into it. 

“Eric, Eric, now. Please, I can’t wait, I can’t. I need it, need your cock need to come, please. I want you” Dele rambled out, words tumbling off his tongue without any thought, saying anything he could to try and get what he needed. 

Eric nodded again, dragged his teeth over the hot skin of his back before he pulled back, drew his fingers out and dragged the pad of his thumb over Dele’s hole, licked his bottom lip as he pushed the tip of it in, watched how Dele’s back dipped gorgeously as he let out a heavy breath. 

The sight made Eric’s cock throb heavily where it sat thick and achingly hard between his legs. He dropped his hand, still slick with lube to get a loose hand around himself, working the length of it lazily as he debated just pushing into Dele like this, pinning his hips to the wood and fucking him here till they both reached their peak. 

It wouldn’t take long, and the thought of how tight Dele had been around his fingers made him ache to push in and feel that grip around his cock. But it wasn’t just that, it wasn't just letting heat on his stomach burst into the ultimate pleasure, it was having Dele all around him, having his boy in his lap and showing him how much he loved him. It was being part of Dele and Dele being part of him. It was how much he loved Dele, how much he’d needed and missed him. 

“Eric” Dele pleaded and pushed his hips back again, feeling empty without anything inside him, missing the stretch of Eric’s fingers.

“Hang on baby, gonna get you on the bed okay?” he breathed, reached both hands to Dele’s hips and tugged him up so that his back was pressed to Dele’s front, his hard cock brushing against the curve of his arse. 

Dele whimpered, swayed on his feet from the sudden switch to standing, his knees weak as he reached an arm up and back to wrap around Eric’s neck, fit his palm around it and held to him. The slight unsteadiness of his feet caused his body to brush back into Eric’s, the drag of it causing Eric’s cock to fit between his cheeks. 

Eric let out a grunt and an arm wound around the front of Dele, a hand caught his hip in a tight grip and tugged him back again, met it with a roll of his own hips. Dele sighed and his hand moved to grip Eric’s, fingers dug into the back of the man's hand as he rolled his hips back into the drag of it. His eyes rolled back into his head and he let out a needy sound, swallowed thickly and felt Eric grip him tighter to made the drag of the thrust deeper, the head of his cock teasingly close to his hole. 

Eric’s eyes slipped shut and he dropped his head forward onto Dele’s shoulder, panted out a shaky breath as the lazy rutting became more frantic, Eric unable help himself when it felt so fucking good. Dele was so wet there due to his carelessness with the lube and it made the glide of it easy, so good it had his toes curling into the carpet, sucking in desperate breaths. 

“Love” Dele’s voice was sweet, a bit shaky, but Eric turned his head to press his nose to the curve of Dele’s neck, an acknowledgment of his words. “Love, bed, I can’t- bed or floor but I need” Dele mumbled and Eric nodded quickly. He pulled his head up so that his chin was resting on Dele’s shoulder, stumbled them forward to the bed, Dele blinked his eyes open, managed to flip himself in Eric’s arms just before they reached the mattress. 

The back of Dele’s legs hit the bed first and he fell back easily over the covers, Eric climbed onto the bed after him, wrapped an arm around Dele’s waist and dragged him up the bed before he pressed himself to Dele once more. 

Dele wrapped his legs around Eric quickly, their lips met as their cock’s pressed together between their stomachs, Dele rutting up into the heat of him quickly. 

Eric pulled back from the kiss and tilted his chin to look down the length of their bodies, reached to tug Dele’s thighs higher around his body before he pulled back off Dele and took himself in hand, tugged at his cock as he shuffled back slightly. 

Dele’s hand reached out to Eric’s that was still rested on his thigh, tangled their fingers together in a tight grip and sucked in a deep breath as Eric pressed the head of his cock against Dele’s entrance. 

“Slow” Dele breathed and Eric’s eyes flicked up to Dele’s, soft as he leant back over to press their lips together in a soft kiss. “Love you” he breathed and Dele whimpered, nodded and whispered “love you” in return as Eric pulled back and got a hand around himself once more.

Eric held his breath, and his heart beat thundered in his ears as he finally pushed into Dele. He bit hard on his bottom lip and his concentrated face grumbled into one of utter pleasure, hands trembled where they gripped Dele’s hips. He was too tight and hot around Eric he felt like his mind had gone numb to it, and his fingernails bit into Dele’s skin to try and stop himself from falling into the pleasure too fast. 

A heavy sigh rushed from Eric’s lips as he got Dele to the base of his cock, his hands released their grip before they moved to Dele’s thighs, tugged them open from where they had swayed in, and pressed himself closer to his boy. 

Eric dropped forward to lay over Dele, resting on his arms pressed to the mattress on either side of his head, tucked hide face into Dele’s neck and drew in a deep breath, waited for Dele to tell him to move, forced himself to keep his hips still, stomach shaking with the restraint. 

Dele hiccuped a gasp once Eric was pressed fully inside him, his toes twitched and the coil in his stomach wound even tighter, cock gave a heavy throb as Eric filled him up. It was so much, god so much, and Dele’s breath was stuttered, body clenching tightly around Eric as he tried to relax around the fullness. 

His arms wrapped desperately around Eric as soon as the man was pressed to him, his nails dug into Eric’s back as he focused on breathing, his head tilted back and his eyes squeezed shut.

He let the weight of Eric centre him, tugged the man tighter into him and a full shiver rocked his body as he felt his body relax to accommodate Eric’s cock, slid his hand up to drag over the back of Eric’s head, the spike of his hair familiar and comforting. 

“Can feel you everywhere” Dele breathed, voice broke over the words and he turned his head to press a kiss to Eric’s ear, the man sucking the skin of Dele’s neck into his mouth, biting at it before he pulled away and pressed kisses over Dele’s chin and cheeks. 

“So good, you’re so fucking good and tight Dele, fucking missed you” he husked out and Dele shivered, pushed his hips down with a roll to test the feeling of it, let out a whimper. 

“You can, fuck me Eric please” Dele breathed, dragged his nails down the back of Eric’s head as he drew his hips back and pulled out just so, before driving back in slowly. Dele let out a proper whine, pressed his head back into the mattress and arched his body up into Eric’s. 

As soon as Dele was comfortable, Eric set a quick pace, unable to help himself from driving himself into Dele over and over chase every gasp and moan from Dele’s lips, feel the tight grip of him as he pushed in as deep as he could go. 

Beads of sweat dripped from Eric’s brow as he let out a low grunt and Dele’s fingernails dug deep into his shoulder blades, the bed rocked with the momentum of it, Dele’s gasping breaths turned into half sobs as the pleasure hot and tight engulfed Dele’s spine, his stomach, his ribs, it burnt through him and he felt lost in the thick pleasure blooming around him. It was like being underwater, sound warped and able to hear the amplified beat of his heart, he felt submerged in the ecstasy of Eric’s cock filling him up over and over, taking him apart like he had needed for so long. 

He felt ruined in the best way, taken apart and held together again, his eyes wet and his breaths trembled as he wrapped his leg tighter around Eric, tugged him hard into his body as his hands scrambled over his sweaty back with a drag of his nails, tried to anchor himself to Eric.  
Dele knew he was close when his cock began to throb thickly, his whole body pulsated with a need for release, needed more of Eric somehow when he was giving him everything. 

“I’m going to come, Eric- please, please I need to cum I” Dele’s words cut off and Eric pressed his lips to his in a searing hot kiss between panting breaths, nodded his head and his hand came up to tangle in Dele’s curls, tangled into the thick of them. He leant into the free arm he had planted to the bed and began to drive his hips into harder, deeper thrusts, Dele’s body jolted with the force of them. 

Dele let out a cry and dropped his hand to his cock, felt Eric suck his bottom lip into his mouth as his lips parted with a gasp, tugged at his cock twice before the heat in his body erupted, a wave of pleasure hot and burning crashed through him and he fell easily into it, let it tear through his body and take him apart, mind blanked as he let out a cry of Eric’s name, trailed off into a whine as he came all over his stomach in wet spurts, for what felt like forever. 

Eric’s breath caught in his chest as he watched Dele’s orgasm hit him the way his face morphed into pure pleasure and all he could utter was Eric’s name over and over, desperate mumbles as he came. Eric felt his body shake, so hard his whole body was like a live wire, heat rushing over him. He drove into Dele twice more before he pushed in as deep as he could as he came, dropped forward over Dele and gasped out an “oh god baby” as he shook through it, came deep inside his boy. 

It took a long few minutes until Eric felt him come back to himself, mind fizzy and breaths huffing as reached down to carefully pull out of Dele and flopped onto his back with a grunt. The pleasure was still rocking through him, half-hard cock twitched as he tried to catch his breath, his head heavy with the force of his orgasm. 

He watched through heavy blinks as Dele rolled over onto his side to face Eric, panting as he blinked his eyes open with a dazed look, settling on Eric who let out a small laugh and reached out to catch one of Dele’s hands, tugged his blissed-out body into him. 

“So fucking good, I love you so much” Dele breathed, tongue felt heavy in his mouth as Eric rolled in to smudge kisses over Dele’s cheeks and neck, breaths panting out onto the skin. 

“So good” Eric echoed, and Dele glowed under the praise, toes curled down as another aftershock of pleasure rocked through him. 

“I love you sweetheart” he mumbled, gathered Dele up into his arms and tugged him onto his chest, collected his face into his hands and licked into his mouth for a messy kiss. 

 

* * * * 

“We’ve been at it like rabbits for hours, how are you still horny?” Dele huffed into his pillow, kicked a foot loose of the crisp hotel sheet, fussed with lazy rolls until his ankle was completely free of it, toes wiggled against the cool early evening breeze that rolled in from the multiple open windows, goosebumps prickled up over his calf. 

Eric’s laugh was warm and bright where it washed over him, from somewhere behind Dele in the massive bigger than king bed. Not too far, really, since his hand was still resting on Dele’s arse, thumb rubbing back and forth over the skin, occasionally squeezing. 

In a sudden rush, Eric’s body was pressed to his once more, the heat of him wrapped around his back, hands seeking Dele’s for their fingers to tangle them together. His lips pressed down the line of Dele’s neck, started under his ear and worked across the width of his shoulder, bit down on the skin and laved his tongue across it. 

Dele exhaled sharply through his nose and melted back into Eric’s frame, eyes closed as Eric’s mouth dragged across to his shoulder blade, moved to kiss down the line of his spine, nose dragged against his skin, his beard scratched slightly. Dele lost himself for a moment before Eric’s hand moved to wrap around his hip, dragged his hips back and he flinched, hand reached back to blindly gasped Eric’s jaw, pulled him up with a light tug. 

The movement itself was half-arsed, but Eric followed his touch easily, kissed his way back up to press his face into Dele’s neck, bit Dele’s earlobe and dragged his teeth slightly to feel Dele shiver. 

“This is what I’m talking about, horny boy” Dele scoffed and reached back to pinch Eric’s side, before Eric’s hands wrapped around his ribs and rolled him over to face him, a soft smile on his lips. 

“Sorry, can’t help myself” Eric mumbled and leant in to press a few soft kisses over Dele’s mouth who leant into them, lazy drags of lips that lead on too long when Dele got distracted with the taste of his mouth, remembering the shape of it, the way he kissed. 

Dele pulled back after a number of minutes he couldn’t keep track of, pressed his hands to Eric’s chest and curled his fingers in lazily, scratched back and forth as Eric trailed kisses up his cheek and over his brow bone, across his eyelids and his hairline. He tucked his nose into Dele’s hair and breathed him in. 

“Mm, let you fuck me three times, well four if you count my mouth- think I let you help yourself as much as you needed” Dele teased, dragged his hand up Eric’s chest to his cheek, pulled him in for one more small kiss before he melted back into the pillow with a sigh, eyes closed in sleepy blinks as he let out a content breath. 

Eric hummed and his hand moved to rub up and down Dele’s back in slow pets of his fingers before it came to settle on his lower back, his touch warm, rubbing in slow circles. 

“You sore?” Eric asked after a moment and Dele shrugged, mumbled a yes as he leant into Eric’s chest, lips pressed to the line of his collarbone. Eric hummed and pressed his knuckles against the dip of Dele’s lower back, who let out a heavy sigh and dropped his forehead to Eric’s shoulder.

“Don’t even try and hide your smirk Dier I know it’s there” He sighed as he pulled back, pressed his fingers to Eric’s mouth and mushed the smirk around until Eric let out a bright laugh. He tilted his chin up quickly to catch Dele’s fingers between his teeth, who screwed up his nose and pushed his fingertips down against Eric’s tongue to make him drop his mouth open, releasing Dele’s fingers. 

“You’re gross” Dele pouted and wiped his now wet fingers against Eric’s arms who didn’t flinch, just rolled his eyes at Dele. 

“Gross?” he asked, rolled over so that he was half leant on Dele’s chest, crushing him into the mattress in the way he wouldn’t admit he liked, or well, didn’t have to because Eric already knew, but, details. 

“I just came inside you and on you and let me put my dick in your mouth” Eric listed off and Dele flushed despite himself.

“But fingers in my mouth is gross right?” he smirked and Dele flicked Eric’s nose, rolled out of his arms so that he was sprawled on his tummy, the sheet slipped away from his entirely as he leant over to reach for one of the complimentary bottles of water sat on the bedside table. 

The bottle was wet where his hand wrapped around it, condensation dripped down the plastic and over his fingers, dropped onto his arm and splashed out onto his shoulder as he twisted the cap of the bottle open with a loud crack. 

He pressed the lip of the bottle to his mouth and tilted it up to take a long much-needed sip, pretty much finished half the bottle in a few gulps before Eric pressed himself to Dele’s back. He snaked an arm over Dele’s shoulder to take the bottle and finish the rest of it, drops of water falling off the bottle and splashing onto Dele’s back which made him squirm. 

Eric ignored Dele’s squirming and sat across the low of the boys back as he tossed the bottle to the floor lazily, pressed his hands to Dele’s shoulder blades and drew his hands down, pressed his thumbs at the base of Dele’s spine and began to rub his thumbs in gentle lazy circles. 

Dele sighed and dropped his head down, leant into his elbows and curled his fingers loosely into the bottom sheet that was almost half-peeled up from the mattress at that point. 

“You gonna get me dinner at some point?” Dele asked with a small yawn, let his eyes flutter shut as Eric drew his thumbs up his spine, pressed into the bundle of muscle below his right shoulder that flared up occasionally, was the first place that smarted when he was tired or stressed or sometimes just after travelling or training or sleeping the wrong way. 

“You make me catch an extra early flight just to see me, keep me bedded so I won't even get to sightsee today at all and then you don’t even feed me after exhausting me, do you love me even at all?” he asked, breath shook when Eric’s lips pressed to the midpoint of his back, brushed over his spine as the pressure of him moved off Dele’s back, and he shuffled down the bed, lips worked down until they were where his golden tanned skin faded into a few shades paler. 

“Haven’t been spoiling you have I? S’not very good of me, baby how about this, I promise I’ll order you room service, some fries, tea, fresh yoghurt, watermelon, apples, grapes, mango, kiwi, peaches” he trailed off. 

Dele sighed and melted into the bedding, eyes shut as he pulled a pillow under his head pressed his cheek into it, a heat he didn’t expect shimmering in his veins as Eric kissed over the curve of his arse, thumbs drew down to pull apart his arse cheeks lightly. 

He flushed like he always did when Eric did this, no matter how much he wanted it, needed it, ached for it, this first moment of such intimacy that he only ever trusted Eric with. 

Eric paused for a moment, pressed his lips to Dele’s thigh in a small peck, exhaled over the skin in a way that made the soft baby hairs rise up. 

Dele just nodded and let out a heavy breath, reached one hand lazily behind him that Eric caught and tangled their fingers together, rubbed a thumb over the back of his hand before he drew his mouth back to where Dele wanted it most. He drew the thumb of his free hand over his hole, licked his lips as he gazed at the sensitive puckered skin, let his tongue coat with saliva before he ducked his head low. 

* * * * 

Dele was really done this time and he was sure of it, skin sticky with sweat and lips dry and a few tears drying on his cheeks, the ache in his body pure exhaustion and giddiness, a stupid smile on his face that was impossible to wipe away, no matter how sleepy he was. 

Eric was in barely a better state to be fair, sprawled out in opposite ways on the bed, Dele’s feet by his head as he panted out heavy tired breaths. 

Dele flung an arm over his face and let out a small giggle, bit into his bottom lip and skimmed a hand lazily down his chest, fingertips danced over his own skin and thought about the bruises to bloom there later. Extra marks for him to look over later, when Eric was home and they had a while longer apart, ghosts of touches to map out when he was missing him and wanted his touch. He knew Eric did it for him, gave him extra marks by fingers or tongue to carry with him, knew how Dele loved them. 

It was the same as the text messages, videos, the things they posted on an Instagram story just to get a text message from each other, the clothes they kept of each others when they went away because it was unabashedly hard without each other and they both knew that. 

Dele dragged a fingertip down over his hip bone, licked over his lips and his smile hurt his cheeks as he remembered the way Eric’s fingers had gripped extra tight as he licked into Dele as he came apart with a sob. 

Dele sighed and rolled over onto his side, was met with the site of Eric’s massive feet, the long scar on the ankle bone of his left foot, the skin a faint pink and stretched, healed messily, skin thicker and the line of it jagged. 

It was an oyster cut from when he was eleven on the beach with his brothers. They had driven out to a new spot for the day, a smaller beach his Dad had heard was good for fishing, they’d been playing a game, something to do with throwing rocks and Eric had gone too far out on the rocks. He’d cut his foot right open on an oyster, his brothers had tried to wash it out in the ocean and the sea salt had made it sting. They hadn’t told their parents for two days, It wasn’t until Daisy noticed a spot of blood on his sock one night as dinner and asked loudly what that was that they found out. 

Eric had been trying to make sure it healed himself with small bandaids and socks, but to little to no success. It was why it had healed so weirdly, the scar stretched and pink even now, all these years later.

Dele reached out and caught Eric’s foot in his hand, pulled it closer to him and pressed a kiss to the warm skin, right over the scar two times, pressed a smile into it before he worked his way up Eric’s shin, got up on to his knees to better kiss a path up the strong line of his leg and over his thigh, right up to his hip and his chest. 

Eric’s hand moved to rest on the back of Dele’s neck, fingers fluttered against the warm skin and he had a cheeky smirk on his lips as he looked down at Dele. 

“Oh hi, baby” he breathed, combed a hand up into Dele’s curls and tugged on as Dele settled himself on top of Eric, sat over his hips and looking down at him. 

“Hi” Dele whispered back, reached down to collect Eric’s hands both of them tangled with each other and he squeezed as his mouth stretched into a wide yawn, a rush of breath leaving his mouth. 

“You done with me?” Dele asked in a whisper, leant down to press their foreheads together, his muscles heavy with exhaustion with each movement, Eric’s answering smile warm and soft, full of love. 

“For now” he agreed softly, bought one of their joint hands to his mouth to kiss the back of his hand, over his knuckles, to each of his fingers, his boy, he thought fondly, looked up at Dele’s flushed face and dopey smile, the marks on his chest and neck and torso, love bites and scratches, faint bruises, all below the collar because the last thing Dele needed was a love bite for Molly’s wedding photos. 

“Besides I remember promising a cute boy fruit and yogurt and fries and whatever else he needed from room service, whatever else he wanted” he smiled and Dele hummed, wriggled where he was sat on Eric and reached over to the left of Eric’s head to pick up the hotel phone. 

He squinted at the fine print menu of numbers on the phone, managed to read over the options until he found the one for room service, pressed in the button labelled number nine and waited while it rang, Eric playing with his fingers as he waited out the dial tone. 

Finally someone picked up on the other end and he told her a kind hello before he began to list off his order. All the things Eric had mentioned, but also orange juice and whatever kind of tomato pasta they had, cheese and a bowl of ‘spanish rice’ that the lady had suggested when he asked what was good here. Eric poked him the ribs when he got to the sixth item, ticked at his skin to make Dele squeak, saying that was enough before he asked for Dele to order some beers too, which he did with a small roll of his eyes. 

Eric leaned up and started to press kisses to Dele’s belly as he started to finish up his call, Dele letting out little giggles as he confirmed he wanted to charge it to the room. Dele cast a sharp smirk at Eric, took the phone away from his ear and leant over to place it back on the hook, Eric’s lips working over his skin as he did. 

“You Eric Dier, are a pest, how did you cope without me? Huh? Must of driven everyone in that house fucking mental” he laughed, “without me to take all your energy on” Dele huffed.

He slapped a hand flat on Eric’s chest, who caught his wrist and pulled it down to bite the side of it, tugged at the skin until Dele pinched his side and Eric let him go with a laugh. Instead, he used his body weight to flip them over, pressed Dele into the bed by his wrists. 

Dele gasped, his eyes alight with a playful fire that Eric loved, that meant Eric wasn’t shocked at Dele kneeing him firmly in his stomach. Caught him off guard to try and flip him back over, laughed loud and hard when Eric poked two fingers hard into his ribs and tickled him, squirmed against the bed, reached for the one pillow remaining on the bed of the ten that had been there to start with, and whacked it hard over his head which caused Eric to let out a loud gasp. 

Dele was naked, his upper body hanging off the end of the bed with Eric sat over his hips, one hand grasping at his side to keep him steady, the other tickling his stomach relentlessly in a way that made it hard to breathe, when a loud knock came at the door “Mercy, say mercy” Eric taunted, his voice drowned out the sound before a second knock came moments later. 

Dele was determined to not give in, he hated losing wrestling with Eric, he would brag about it endlessly, how he was stronger and fitter and Dele was no match for him, but he was also starving and exhausted and the tickling was getting hard to endure. When the third knock came, quick and sharp and impatient, Dele finally gasped out “mercy mercy mercy” and kicked his foot into Eric’s side, who squirmed as Eric released him, pulled him back up onto the bed and laid him down, smacked a kiss to his nose and climbed off the bed. 

Dele watched as Eric climbed off the bed next and walked off toward the door with a pump of his fist in the air, grabbed a folded linen towel off the couch as he passed it and wrapped it around his waist, knotted it at his waist lazily. The white fabric looked gorgeous against his skin, long tanned back, shoulders still a little red from the sun. 

Fuck he was gorgeous, Dele thought with a happy sigh, climbed off the bed and scooped his phone off the ground, managed to snap a quick photo of Eric walking away, able to see his arse through the thin fabric, before he dipped into the bathroom, half-closed the door behind him and ran the shower cool, his body felt sticky and overheated, a mess Eric had made of him, sweat and come and gross. 

The water ran cool from the showerhead, and Dele stepped under it and let out a small grunt at the cold water, but took a deep breath and let himself adjust to the temperature, and sighed when his overheated body cooled and he finally felt clean again, fresh. 

“Just there is perfect, thank you, very much- erm let me get you a tip one moment” Dele smiled when he heard Eric’s voice from outside in the room, grabbed the bar of hotel soap and unwrapped it, used it to wash over his body lazily and quickly, enough to rinse off everything. 

As Dele moved to step out of the shower, Eric shouldered into the bathroom, a smile on his face and a cup of orange juice in his hand, a short red rose tucked behind his ear. 

“Meu amor lindo, eu trago presentes” he sung out, voice warm and light as his hand reached to push the linen from the secured point at his hip, now naked as he stepped into the shower and pressed a firm peck on Dele’s lips, tasted like the orange juice in his hand. 

“Here you go baby” he mumbled, handed Dele the cup who accepted it happily and gulped down a few sips. Eric reached for the rose behind his ear, tucked it instead behind Dele’s ear and gave him another kiss between sips, the flower safely sat by his curls, against his skin. 

Dele smiled bright and stepped out of the shower, placed the cup down on the vanity counter and reached for a thick fluffy towel. He wrapped it around his waist as he watched Eric grab the shower head and direct it at his stomach just to wash away some of the mess they had made. He picked the cup of juice, walked out into the bedroom, able to feel the weight of Eric’s gaze on him as he did. 

In the large suite, to the left of the bed was a long table on wheels, various plates covered by silver cloches, the air filled with the scent of delicious food, and coffee, various mugs and cups scattered between the laid out plates. 

In the centre was a small glass vase, one with a few fluffy white flowers, clearly where the rose that was tucked behind his ear had come from. Dele reached up and dragged his fingertips over the petals for a moment, took a deep breath in and smiled warmly. Eric was cute, could be cute when he wanted to be, at least. 

Dele took a few more sips of the orange juice before he placed it down, hummed to himself as he walked around the table, took off each cover one by one and placed them on the coffee table in a stack, all the food revealed when he finally picked up a spoon from one of the plates and dug into a mouthful of rice. 

The sound of the shower shut off as Dele was going for a French fry, and he turned his head just in time to see Eric walk out in a towel, droplets of water working their way down his chest, but most of his body still dry, just having used the shower for a rinse. 

“You give the poor sod that brought us our food a proper heart attack then?” Dele asked, picked up a chip and offered it to Eric who leant forward to take a bite of it, Dele finished off the rest of it easily. 

“Mm, only a little bit- think he was a fan of my linen skirt” Eric smirked, kissed the top of Dele’s head with a small hum under his breath. “He gave me a bit of side-eye when he saw the bed, but I think I have you to blame for that” Eric laughed and wrapped himself around Dele’s back, slumped down to press his chin into the boy's shoulder. 

Dele laughed and reached a hand back to brush over Eric’s head, wriggled his hips back into him when Eric’s hand dragged across the low of Dele’s stomach. 

He looked over to the bed, and let out another small giggle the huge bed that they had kind of made a total mess of. The duvet was on the floor, held up still in one corner tucked under the mattress. The sheets were twisted across the middle of it, in weird twists, all the pillows all over the floor and just one in the centre of the bed. Dele’s eyes drew across the floor to see a few books and pens that had fallen from the desk, scattered out in their own mess, Dele’s backpack not far from it. 

To top it all off, Eric’s suitcase open and messy and Dele’s bag in the hall, and his clothing that Eric had stripped him out of all over the place. Nice. 

Hopefully the staff member would keep quiet or simply didn’t know or care who Eric was. If worst came to worst, if he did know who Eric was and somehow spotted Dele as well before they left tomorrow morning, they could always get a last-minute NDA sent through. Most likely, the story would just turn into ‘Eric Dier having a new fling’ that was spending his summer break with, in a fancy Greek hotel. 

“Mm, s’only a bit of a mess” he smiled and Eric huffed a laugh by his ear, kissed the side of his neck before he pulled away from Dele who let out a small whine. He had limited hours with his man, only the rest of the evening and it felt like a crime to be so untabled from each other when they could just be wrapped up in one other easily. 

Eric was back in an instant, lips pressed to the top of Dele’s head and breathed him in before he pulled away once more. “Just a minute love” he mumbled and Dele nodded, reached for a strawberry and bit into it, placed the green leafy end on the plate as he chewed the sweet fruit, the juice of it over his lips.

He watched as Eric fiddled with the pillows on the large couch, moved them around to create a space for them to sit curled together, came back for the table and wheeled it over to the couch. Dele followed plopped himself down on the sofa on his back, stretched his legs out and rolled his ankles and let out a groan as he reached his arms above his head, pushed his shoulders back into the sofa as he tangled his fingers together above himself to feel the pull of his tight muscles. 

Eric plopped down on the couch by Dele’s feet, reached out to wrap a hand around his ankle and rest his foot in his lap, drew his thumb over the skin on the top of his feet, tugged one of his toes. 

Dele let out a slow sigh as he slumped back into the sofa, his taut body went loose and relaxed, and a yawn dropped from his mouth as he sat up and leant his side against the back of the couch, his legs laid over Eric’s lap, bent at the knees. 

Eric’s hand slid up from Dele’s toes to his ankle, skimmed up the back of his calf, came up to rest on his knee as Dele leant forward and reached over to pick up a few slices of peach in his palm before he sat back in his spot. 

With his other hand, he picked up one fruit slice and raised it up to Eric’s lips, tapped against his lips once before Eric leaned in and took a bite of it, juice spilled down over Dele’s fingers and over his wrist, but he didn’t care, just put the other half of the peach in his mouth and finished it. 

They get through almost half of the food like that, hungrier than they realised, maybe leave some pasta stains on the couch, had to sacrifice one of their towels to wipe up a glob of yogurt that got spilt on Eric’s chest. 

They get sidetracked there too, Dele properly in Eric’s lap with his arm hooked around his neck, trading small kisses as Dele asks Eric about how his break had been, how his brothers were, tells him about what he got up to in LA, the touristy things he did and the few nights out they had. 

They stayed like that for a couple of hours, until it gets to the point in the evening when the sun has begun to dip and the wind had a slight chill in it. Dele gets cold, the lack of clothing more noticeable than before but just bundled into Eric’s chest and tried to ignore it because he didn’t want Eric to stop talking about the nudist beach they accidentally ended up at, the laughter in his voice and feeling like home, like something Dele had missed more than he could describe. 

Eric’s hand was on his thigh, keeping the man pressed to him, his heart rate steady under Dele’s ear and he wished he could take a photo of a feeling, this feeling, so he could look at it, focus and be in this moment when he missed Eric again. He knew they had an entire season together coming up, months of being together constantly, coming home to each other when they had to spend the days apart. Dele knew, that really these were only small bites of time where he missed Eric, usually nothing that stung too sharply. Maybe it was the injuries, the fear of something happening to each other, the build-up of having to spend more time apart than expected the few weeks before the break but he had missed Eric more than he expected and didn't want to be faced with more time apart after tonight. 

Another shiver rocked through Dele and he drew in a sharp breath through his nose, tried to burrow closer to Eric and ignore the chill till at least until the end of his current story and then bully Eric into carrying him to the bed or getting up to go and get him a blanket or jumper. 

Eric has different plans clearly, felt Dele’s shiver and scooped one arm under Dele’s knees, able to lift him as he stood with ease as the man was already in his lap. He carried him out toward the balcony rather than the bed and Dele let out a small confused huff that Eric ignored, kissed the top of Dele’s head before he continued his story. 

Thankfully, the luxury suite was at the very top floor of the building, the large balcony completely private, no other rooms to the left or right, only below which were unable to look up into their space. Complete privacy, huh, Eric had really thought about it all. Dele tilted his chin up to press a soft kiss to the underside of Eric’s chin, nuzzled his nose into the soap smelling skin.

Eric sat down on the outdoor lounge, Dele still in his lap and reached for the faded light yellow muslin fabric blanket that was folded in the corner and draped it over them. Without the air conditioning running, even though it had been on low, the late afternoon sun and blanket warmed Dele just enough to feel settled, the breeze now pleasant and no longer making him shiver. 

Dele pressed his smile into Eric’s throat as he finished his story, giggled at his description of Jan’s reaction to the nudist beach, reached a hand to wrap around one of Eric’s biceps loosely, thumb rubbed back and forth as his eyes cast out to the beautiful view of white buildings and the water in the distance. He smiled when Eric’s hand came up to cup his cheek, guided Dele’s head to rest back on his chest, staying there as he went silent again, the sound of music from somewhere in the distance. 

“You really did all this for me huh?” Dele asked after a moment, closed his eyes as he felt Eric nod, a slow breath made his chest rise and fall under Dele’s ear. 

“Yeah, wasn’t kidding when I said I missed you” Eric laughed, easily, like of course he’d change two flights and given himself only a couple days to rest before pre-season training, just so he could see Dele for less than twenty-four hours. 

“Mm, I don’t remember you saying anything near as nice as that to me, all I remember is you ribbing me about my socks and trying to break up with me over text multiple times” Dele teased with a smirk, felt Eric’s body rumble with a warm laugh under him. 

“I don’t remember it going that way, baby, in fact, I believe you started it, something about my great new sandals that you love a lot, how you wanted me to wear them on the next date I took you on” Eric mumbled and Dele whined, reached up blindly to slap at Eric’s face and side of his head, made contact twice before Eric caught his wrist and squeezed. 

Dele huffed and pulled back to look at Eric, shuffled to sit himself across Eric’s lap, grabbed his face in both hands and squished his cheeks in his grip, making Eric huff and push at his stomach, Dele let out a squeak and squirmed in his lap. 

“You are ridiculous you know what?” Eric muttered, shook his head and Dele just ducked his head in to kiss Eric’s smushed lips, his hands still pushing his cheeks in. 

He pulled back just enough to speak “Eric Dier, you dare bring those sandals into my home, let alone wear them when you are trying to take me on a date, I will burn your house to the ground” he whispered in promise, leant in to bite at Eric’s cheek before he pulled back to press their noses together. 

“You’re hot when you threaten arson” Eric mumbled, and bought his hand down to rest on Dele’s arse, squeezed to make Dele squeak again, poke two fingers into Eric’s chest. 

“You keep up this behaviour and it won't just be a threat” he smirked and Eric mocked a shiver, mouth dropped open before me muttered out “god are you trying to get me hard again?” and pulled Dele into an over the top kiss, licked into Dele’s mouth in an over-energetic way that made him laugh, too messy and getting spit on his cheek. 

Dele grabbed Eric’s face in both hands and pushed his head away from him, laughed as he reached up to scrub the back of his hand over his mouth, shaking his head. 

They stayed out on the balcony till the sun had set, the sky dark, making the lights of the city glow, chatter coming up from the streets and hotel pool below them. Dele’s body was heavy with exhaustion, warm from the afternoon sun and content right into the pit of his stomach, happy being lazy with Eric. He only wished Eric hadn’t sent Clay home with his brother, he would have loved to see his pup again, he had missed Clay so much too, he knew secretly he was kind of Clay’s favourite (maybe because he snuck him treats, but so what). 

Dele wrapped the thick blanket around his shoulders as he slid off Eric’s lap, pressed a kiss to his cheek and chin before he stood, saying he wanted a proper shower and then they could finish up the rest of their room service that they had stacked up in the rather sizeable hotel room fridge. Maybe even put on a movie, he didn’t care, as long as Eric was close to him, by his side, that was all he needed. 

They get back into the shower, together this time, the water warm as they washed each other, too tired to fool around beyond lazily making out against the tiled wall between washing each other's bodies and Dele’s hair. Eric admired the marks he’s left on Dele’s skin, Dele laughed and flushed when he saw the long red lines down the length of his back left by his own fingernails, tracked the pattern with his fingertips as Eric stood under the stream of water. 

Dele left the shower first to seek out the complimentary bathrobes that he knew would be hanging somewhere in this posh bathroom, beaming when he found them and brought them back, handed one to Eric as he stepped out of the shower who just laughed and rolled his eyes before he slipped the thick white robe on without question. 

Dele pressed a kiss to Eric’s shoulder before he slipped out of the ensuite and back into the bedroom, walked over to collect his case and dug through it, for his toiletries bag, carried the leather case back into the bathroom once he found it. Eric was stood at the sink still, brushing his teeth, looked up and caught Dele’s eye in the mirror, mouth full of foamy toothpaste as he smiled. 

They stood shoulder to shoulder as Dele worked his curl cream through his damp hair and Eric brushed his teeth. Dele told him he was silly to brush his teeth before dinner and Eric just shrugged and pulled Dele into the kiss the taste of mint into his mouth and onto his tongue.

* * * * 

It was barely morning the next time they fucked, no later than three am, in a tangle of covers and sheets on the bed. 

It was quiet in the room, the only light coming from the glow of the moon spilling in from the various open windows. The occasional pant, the soft mutter of a name, sound of skin on skin and the rustle of fabric the sounds in the dark room, Dele’s back was covered in sweat despite the air conditioning in the suite being on high, Eric’s chest pressed flush to him. Dele was laid on his side with his leg hooked up on the bed, bent at the knee with his other leg straight, with Eric’s hand pressed to the low of Dele’s stomach to help him roll his hips back. 

Eric always felt bigger like this somehow, his cock filled him perfectly, it felt all-consuming. Maybe it was the way Eric wrapped himself around Dele like this. His own leg was hooked over the top of Dele’s, one arm wrapped across the boy with his hand covering Dele’s stomach, the heat of them pressed together like this, skin to skin. Maybe it was Eric’s lips pressed to his ear, the sound of his breaths loud and grounding in his ear, the scratch of his beard against his skin, the way their breaths could match like this when they were pressed so tight. Maybe it was the way Eric felt like part of him like this, gripping to him desperately like he’d never let go. Maybe, it was that Dele was half asleep and still a bit sore from the previous day. 

Dele turned his face into his pillow when Eric pushed up into him in a harder roll of hips, his hand moved to lay over Eric’s where it was on his stomach, tangled their fingers together as he trembled with it, breaths coming faster. 

They’d been at it for the better part of an hour now, had both been half asleep when Eric rolled over and pressed himself to Dele’s back, cock half-hard and pressed to Dele’s lower back. Dele had pushed his hips back without thought, slow lazy grinds that eventually turned into Dele needing and wanting more, sleepily asking Eric to fuck him. 

Dele was shaking with it now, body exhausted from the exertion, no matter how slow it had been, muscles taut and on edge, the pleasure dizzyingly good. If he’d been more awake he would’ve pushed Eric onto his back and taken what he needed, make them both fall apart quickly. But was so tired and comfortable and it felt so good like this, firm but slow, Eric so deep he felt like he could barely breathe with it, he wanted to come just like this, wanted Eric pressed to him and wrapped around him. 

“Dele” Eric’s voice was a low shaky whisper, his breath a low rumble, broke over the word and Dele nodded, felt Eric’s hand slid away from his tummy to his thigh, pulled it up the bed and used his hand to pin his knee down. The stretch made the angle even better, and Dele let out a shaking gasp of Eric’s name, dropped his head back onto Eric’s shoulder, his whole leg shaking as Eric’s cock pressed into his prostate firmly with each roll of his hips. 

“I’m gonna” Dele mumbled, felt beads of sweat pooling around his neck, breaths stuttered as Eric nodded. 

“I love you, I love you sweetheart” Eric breathed and Dele gasped, like a tight wire snapping, the muscles in his stomach tightened and his vision blacked out as he squeezed his eyes shut and came in thick bursts over his stomach and the mattress. His breath rushed back into him with a heavy inhale, his whole body shaking through the immense pleasure, sparks fizzling out behind his eyelids. 

In the thick haze of pleasure, he felt Eric’s teeth sink into his shoulder, bit down as he muffled a cry and came inside him, shaking through it. Dele reached out to find Eric’s hand, fingers skated over his own skin until he found the familiar shape of Eric’s fingers and tangled them with his own, a loose sleepy hold. 

“Love you” Dele breathed before he sunk into the mattress with a sigh, felt his body throbbing with aches already, a cramp brewing in the back of his calf. He let out a small whimper and twisted himself further into the mattress, tried to adjust how he was laying to relax the muscle. 

“Oh my god” Eric mumbled, and Dele nodded, a dazed smile on his lips as he squeezed Eric’s hand. The man kissed along the line of his shoulders, up over the back of his neck and nuzzled in behind his ear, kissed over Dele’s sweat-soaked skin. 

A small quell of disappointment pricked in the low of Dele’s stomach as Eric slipped out of him, pulled away for a moment to probably reach for a towel or tissues or something to clean up Dele.

He knew Eric’s flight was in six or so hours, knew that it was another week of falling into bed alone, of missing the sound of Eric’s snuffling snores and the way he would always wake up with Eric on top of him somehow. He knew that whilst he couldn’t wait for Molly’s wedding, knew it would be a happy and beautiful night, but also knew he would miss having Eric by his side. He knew he would wish he had the love of his life there with him when he watched his sister marry the love of her life. That he would have his family, those close enough to know about them, asking about Eric, and he would wish he had Eric by his side to tell them they were good. 

Dele sighed and rolled completely onto his tummy, stretched his leg down and twisted hips slightly to relieve the twinging muscle. 

Eric leant back over to him after a second, a towel in hand that he probably tugged off the floor, pressed a kiss to Dele’s shoulder as he slipped his hand under the covers. Dele let his eyes fall shut as Eric took care of him, smiled when Eric threw the towel to the side and pressed himself over Dele’s back, nuzzled his face into the curve of his neck. 

“You ok baby?” Eric muttered, and Dele nodded, smiled slightly because god Eric really did know him so well didn’t he. “Not too much?” He asked and Dele shook his head quickly, reached out to grab Eric's hand and pull it to his lips, kissing up over his wrist. 

“No, was good, perfect” he mumbled, voice honest. “Just, gonna miss you again is all” he breathed, words easier to say in the dark like this, with Eric pressed on top of him, so close they could share their breathing, the rise and fall of their chests matched to each other. 

Eric hummed and held tighter to Dele’s hand, tucked his face further into the curve of Dele’s neck and pressed three small kisses there. “Gonna miss you too, so much, but s’only a little over a week, and you’ll be busy enjoying the wedding, and I’ll be at yours with Clay waiting for you when you fly home” Eric promised and Dele nodded, let his eyes fall shut as exhaustion washed over him. 

He blinked his eyes open a second longer, pressed his free hand flat to the mattress from where it was under the pillow and inhaled deep through his nose. The room dark, his body sore and aching in the best way, the smell of Eric, the smell of both of them on the sheets, the warmth of skin on skin, the sound of a breeze pushing into the room almost silently, the way his mouth tasted like Eric’s. He closed his eyes once more and committed it to memory, even the feeling of the sheets against his tummy and thighs, the tangle of Eric’s fingers between his own. A perfect moment, a piece of he and Eric that he could wrap up in his mind, forced himself to make it tangible, real enough that he could hold it in his hand if he wanted to. Like if he curled his fingers around the soft edges of it, it wouldn't slip away. When he missed Eric he could just unfurl his fingers and be right here. Safe. Loved. 

“Wake me up’fore you go ok?” He mumbled as he drifted along the cusp of sleep, the weight of Eric on him and his body’s exhaustion combined was enough to have him sinking back into sleep already, despite wanting to keep his eyes open. He wanted to force himself to stay up, fight heavy blinks, he could even have a coffee if he really needed to right? He wanted to stay up all night and be with Eric, spend all the hours he had with him while he could. But he knew his body was calling for sleep, and Eric would need rest in the limited time he had before preseason. 

“Course” Eric mumbled, the last thing Dele heard before he drifted off, the sound of Eric’s breathing carrying him into sleep. 

* * * * 

They kissed goodbye against the door, Eric’s arms around Dele’s waist, over the fabric of the duvet he'd wrapped around himself. Dele had one arm around Eric’s neck, anchoring him in, his bare toes stepped over the top of Eric’s shoes, wiggling with each swipe of their tongues. 

Dele sighed when they broke apart, again that stupid pit heavy in his stomach, the one that had been there when he woke up to Eric in the shower, looked over to see his bags already packed and set by the edge of the bed. He’d crawled out of bed and over to Eric’s cases, opened his luggage and pulled out one of Eric’s black t-shirts and a faded pale orange hoodie, tugged them up and placed them on the bed under his pillow. He zipped the cases shut, hid the evidence and wrapped himself up in the duvet, pulled his phone off the charger on its bedside and began to text Harry about their plans for the day, that he should be over to them by around midday. 

“Gonna order some breakfast?” Eric asked, reached to cup Dele’s cheek in his hand and Dele nodded, stepped a tiny bit closer to Eric, kind of impossible when he was pretty much stood on top of him. 

“Yeah, croissants and strawberries” he smiled and Eric hummed, whispered “yum” against Dele’s lips as he leaned in to kiss him once more, a soft slide of lips that only lasted a few seconds. 

“Enjoy your plane food” Dele teased with a smirk and Eric huffed, pouted out his bottom lip, which of course made Dele kiss him again. 

“Oh!” Dele pulled back with a gasp, eyes alight as he looked up at Eric, “I have a surprise for you” he beamed, and Eric smiled and raised a curious brow, hands bunched up in the material of the duvet and cuddled Dele into his body. 

“You had a surprise for me all this time and didn’t mention it at all?” Eric huffed and Dele rolled his eyes, bit into his bottom lip and shrugged his shoulders. “Mm, like to keep you on your toes Dier” he grinned, eyes sharp as they danced of Eric’s face. 

“What is it then?? Got about three minutes to show me” Eric asked and Dele shook his head, “It’s not surprise for now” he huffed, like he was stating the obvious an Eric groaned, “it’s for later, not too sure when, but later” Dele smirked and Eric just bent his knees and picked Dele up, leant up to kiss him soundly. 

“You’re a fucking menace” he grumbled, his laugh kind and teasing where it burst against his lips, kissing Dele between giggles until he placed him down on his feet, cupped Dele’s face in both hands. 

“Something to look forward to no? I read about it in an article on facebook, seven ways to get the spark back with your man” Dele rambled. “And trust me, this idea of surprising you was far better than number four on the list which was some convoluted mess of asking you if you had a snack or spare change and feeling you up from your pocket”

Eric laughed loud and bright, his eyes crinkled at the corners. “God I’m glad you didn’t try that, you wanking me off from the pocket of my sweats is not sexy” he breathed and Dele hummed, a wry smile on his lips as he winked at Eric, “well, you never know baby, If I feel like the passion is dying, you know what to expect” he winked. 

Eric’s eyes darted from Dele to his own wrist, caught the hands on his watch with a glance and his mouth set in a line, one that Dele knew well enough to know that it meant it was time for Eric to leave. 

“I have to-” 

“I know” Dele interrupted, moved his hands to press flat on Eric’s chest and let out a small sigh. 

“Fly safe ok? And give Clay a big kiss for me and call me as soon as you’re home yeah?” Dele rambled off, throat tight at the words of goodbye that had fallen from his lips.

“I will, and of course, I’ll facetime you as soon as I can ok?” Eric replied and Dele nodded, drew a breath in deep and sharp and held it to fight the sting of tears threatening his eyes, the way his chest had wound up and the slight lump in his throat. 

It was harder saying goodbye now, that he’d had Eric, been able to touch and kiss and laugh with him. He was close again and now Dele had to let go once more. 

“Already miss you” Dele breathed, drew a hand up to rest his fingertips against the side of his neck and took a slow breath in, his thumb twitched against the hollow of his throat. 

“Already miss you” Eric replied, ducked his head and pulled Dele in by his waist, kissed him soft and slow, sweet like they had all the time in the world. 

“See you soon” Dele breathed as they pulled apart, kept his eyes closed as Eric pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose and then his forehead, lingered there for a moment before he stepped back, Dele rocked up onto his toes to chase one last tiny drag of lips before Eric stepped back. He was quick to pick up his bags, headed to the door and Dele kept his eyes closed until he heard the click of it opening. 

He set his eyes on Eric who was already looking back at him with a soft smile on his lips. “Love you”

Dele’s smile fluttered on his lips for a moment, his hands tugged the duvet up over his shoulders as he answered. “Love you” 

Dele caught one more flash of blue eyes before Eric was gone out the door once more. Dele sighed and gathered the duvet in his hands pulled it up over his head, let out a huff before he dropped the covers and walked back to the bed. 

He waited to send the photo until he was sure Eric would be in his taxi already, tugged on the stolen hoodie and ambled off the bed to the bathroom, phone in hand as he stood in front of the mirror. He snaps a picture of himself in the jumper, stood in the bathroom with it resting just past the top of his thighs, the sleeved hanging past his fingers. 

The colours look nice, the faded orange and the white tiles, the small hints of blue in the room and the morning light streaming in. He sent the photo to Eric with a few clicks before he crawled back into bed to sulk, pulling up a youtube video to distract himself. 

It takes Eric only a few minutes to reply, a simple “you're going to make me get this cabbie to turn around…” that made Dele flush, stomach flipped as he read the words twice more before the notification banner disappeared from the top of the screen. 

Dele waits a moment before he decides to reply, only for a new message to pop up in the top of the screen. “Jumper looks familiar? Almost like one that I know has to be in my suitcase because it was there this morning….”

He smiled and rolled over onto his stomach, pulled out his phone and opened the message chain to reply. 

 

* * * *

It was raining when Dele got home, a proper heavy thunderstorm to welcome him back, lightening and thunder shaking over head as his driver pulled in through the gate of his property, came to a stop in the silent driveway. The sky was dark, foreboding really with the thick grey clouds rumbling over the rooftop.

The grim weather was a stark contrast to the light in Dele’s chest, the joy fizzling up from his feet all the way to his fingertips. His boy and his dog just a few steps away. Almost two weeks since Greece, multiple phone calls and texts, photos sent to each other and late night face times. After endless bridges to try and be close to each other, all Dele had to do now was push open a door, walk a few meters into their home and there would be his boys.  
Eric greeted him at the door, flung it open before Dele could even get to the doorstep, making him rush up the steps to get to him, jumping into his arms despite the wetness of his skin and clothing from the small walk from the car. 

Eventually they made it inside, Dele’s bags and all, teeth chattering as Clay came bounding over, almost knocked Dele down as he jumped up to him, nuzzled at his stomach and hands, tailed wagged rapidly in joy. 

They eat spaghetti in bed, kiss with pasta sauce on their lips between their conversation, unable to stop talking, catching each other up on the days missed. They talk about Molly’s wedding, about the celebration and the videos Dele had sent Eric that night of Sally and Alan dancing, of him in that gorgeous white suit belting out songs with Harry. 

They talk about Dele starting pre-season. 

They talk about Eric’s pre season tests, about what they found and the small procedure he is booked in for the day before Dele flys out for pre-season. 

They had spoken about it before, of course, Dele had called him the moment Eric texted him about it, asked him endless questions and let Eric air out his frustrations that he would miss pre season, re-assured him that everything would be ok. 

By now they had both accepted the fact of it, knowing that it was a simple procedure with a short recovery time, nothing worse than what they had already been able to overcome in the past year. But talking about it helped, helped Eric and Dele, helped the fear that a new complication brought, no matter the severity. 

They talked till they were dazed with, tired and talking between yawns, Clay curled up asleep at the foot of the bed. Eric was laid on his back with Dele curled up to his chest, their bowls from dinner on the bedside table, the tv in their room playing back friends reruns, illuminating the dark room in shades of blue and purple, orange and pink. 

They fall asleep between kisses, Eric’s hand wrapped around the back of Dele’s neck, Dele’s hands under his hoodie flat on his stomach, feeling the rise and fall of each breath. 

* * * *

Eric: “Shame you never learnt how to spell :( didn't anyone ever tell you you needed a back up plan? Do well in school in case the football thing didn’t work out?”

Dele muffled his laugh into the crook of his elbow, sat down to pull on his boots as another message from Eric popped up. 

Eric: “if the surprise is you not being able to spell and or know my name, then I not shocked :(“ 

Dele huffed at that, saw he still had five minutes before he had to be on the pitch and sat back, leant against the edge of his locker cubby and gathered his phone in both hands. 

Dele: “You ruin everything” 

Eric: “ :/” 

Dele: “Maybe next time I’ll find a brand that someone else will appreciate” 

Dele: “Completely unrelated but do you know of any brands called Kame or Wenks or Sonne?” 

Eric: “:(“ 

Dele: “I thought you weren’t impressed?? Shouldn’t you be sleeping in?? How did you even see the photos so quick? You checking in on me?”

Eric: “a cute boy woke me up at 5am and told me just because I had the days off until my surgery didn’t mean I could get away with not kissing him good morning… don’t know how he got into my bed” 

Dele: “stop avoiding my question, be honest, do you have spurs twitter notifications on?” 

Dele: “it’s ok, know you’re a big fan, Don’t be embarrassed” 

Eric: “I’ve been caught out :(“ 

Dele: “knew it” 

Dele: “creep” 

Eric: “I’m just a huge fan of Harry Winks, part of the fan club and all” 

Dele: “Winksy? Really? Didn’t think he was your type :/” 

Eric: “what can i saw, it’s those freckles” 

Dele: “I do something cute for you and this is how you treat me… wow” 

Eric: “You know I liked the photo dork” 

Eric: “You know I love seeing my name on you, I know that is what you were going for” 

Eric: “Do I really have to tell you?” 

Dele: “..... I mean” 

Eric: “You’re stupid if you don’t think I have those photos already saved on my phone, but I fixed them”

Dele: “fixed them?” 

The image Eric sent in reply was the high definition press photo of Dele entering the stadium, a small smile on his lips as he looked up at the camera, the large writing of Dior scribbled starkly across the shirt in clear letters. However, the ‘o’ had been turned into an ‘e’ messily done, maybe on snapchat or instagram, it stood out on the picture, obviously added on but still it made Dele’s heart clench, a small smile tug at his lips. He let out a rush of air from his lips and pressed the pad of his thumb down on the image, and then tapped the save button.

Dele: “wow it looks so real” 

Eric: “shut up 

Dele: “:) guess you liked your surprise then”

Eric: “little bit” 

Eric: “you are cuter than I give you credit for sometimes aren’t you?”

Eric: “that or you love winding me up” 

Dele: “never can just say thank you can you, no one taught you manners huh?” 

Eric: “Thank you, for my surprise, made my morning a lot better. I like the shirt, a lot” 

Dele: “:) Was that so hard?”

Eric: “yes, grueling, exhausting and excessive” 

Dele: “poor babe, imagine having to be all curled up in bed all morning, I’m lucky I get to train for two hours”

Eric: “hey, it's hard work but it's honest work and someone has to do it” 

Dele: “my big strong man”

Eric: “:)” 

Dele: “That was sarcastic” 

Eric: “I read it as non sarcastic, thankyou x”

Dele: “I am not talking to you anymore thankyou x” 

Dele: “no really, I have to go or I’ll be late”

Eric: “ok”

Dele: “ok”

Eric: “ok”

Dele; “........”

 

Eric: “love you”

Dele: “:)”

Eric: “....”

Dele: “what?’

Eric: “Dele”

Dele: “:)”

Dele: “love you” 

Eric: “:)”

Eric: “call me when you’re driving home baby x” 

Dele “xx” 

Dele was suspicious of Eric’s cool demeanor over text, he knew Eric had something for him wearing his name. God last year part of Eric’s birthday present had been Dele in their bed in nothing but one of Eric’s jerseys. While Dior was more a cheeky nod to Dier, something that would look normal to others but be for each other, he still expected a little more. However, he also knew Eric didn’t like to give away when Dele was able to fluster him, so there was every chance was playing it off.

Eric had told him on the car ride home that he was out the back with Clay, so Dele headed right through his home, their home really, since they spent ninety percent of their time here and only occasionally Eric’s, only stopped to drop his bag and strip off his jumper. 

The way Eric looked at him when his gaze locked with his made Dele’ stomach flip. His eyes drag from Dele’s face to his body, the shirt and darted to where ‘Dior’ was scrawled, lingered there and his face bloomed into a bright grin, a slight flush on his cheeks. 

“Hey” Eric had smiled and tugged Dele into his lap as he got close enough, nuzzled his face into his shoulder and breath him in. If that wasn’t convincing enough, the photo Eric takes when he thinks Dele is napping, still in the shirt, do the trick. 

As they climbed into bed that night, Dele thought of the two pieces of clothing folded carefully under his gym gear in his wardrobe, the matching hoodie and the ‘Dior et moi’ t-shirt. He smirked, thinking of when he could wear them, what events he had coming up, when Eric pulled him into his chest. 

Dele settled against Eric as the man pulled out a book to read, Dele’s phone in his hand, scrolling through instagram. Just because they were back home together, didn’t mean he had to stop finding ways to tease Eric through photos.


	6. Winter Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dele is in Ibiza and Eric sees him in a familiar shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uuuuuuh surprise?? thank Callie for this, she prompted me with the idea that oversized black t-shirt Dele was clubbing in looks like it could be his boyfriends!! and getting pics of our boys apart bought back the inspo for this fic!! I really hope you like this!!!!!

Dele: What do u trust more blue or purpble?

Dele: *Purple

Dele: ???????????

Eric: Blue 

Dele: Tooo late! Went with purple :/ 

Dele: You’re soslow at replying what if it was an emergency????

Eric: I’m at dinner with my family 

Eric: The boys are there looking out for you I trust them 

Dele: :( :( :( I could have been kidnapped! 

Eric: If you’re being kidnapped and you text me about colours then we need to work on your survival instincts when you get home

Dele: :/

Dele: Was actually about a drink thank you Eric Dier the kidnapping was an exqpkme 

Dele: *example 

Dele: All the drinks here are bright colours right? And Chilly was like oh the red one is sick but he was also trying to talk up a woman on her hens night that was stood with her fiancé that is about five times the size of him so I don’t trust that 

Dele: Narrowed it down to blue and purple was still like hmmm ? And then I thought maybe Eric will know but turns out you don’t care so if this drink is bad it’s completely your fault 

Eric: I understand 

Eric: Completely fair evaluation there Del

dele: Thank youuu

Dele: Update, purple drink is ok not great. Disappointed you weren’t here in my time of need :( going to convince Troy to skull it and then get the blue one for me! Will keep upsets 

Dele: *keep you updated

Eric: Please do. Have a good feeling about the blue drink

Dele: This is why you needed to reply quicker! 

Eric: Fam says hi

Dele: Tell the fam I said 😘👋🏼🙏🏼🤙🏼😘 but I have to go now I can see Troy. The mission is afoot. Wish me luck love u 

Eric: Good luck Del, love you x 

Eric’s eyes flickered up from his phone to meet the gaze Daisy had set on him, a smirk tucked into the corner of her mouth. The edge of her wine glass tapped against her lips as he brows darted upwards, blue eyes knowing. 

With a huff Eric leant back into his seat, dropped his phone into the pocket of his shorts and squeezed the hand he wrapped around his bottle of beer. 

Daisy raised a brow, a sharp knowing look on her face that Eric had become all too familiar with between his sisters and Dele. They somehow all had that same look when they could see right through Eric. To be fair, they were some of the only people that could tell what he was thinking just looking at him. 

Eric raised his brows back before he lifted the Corona to his lips and pulled a long sip down, Daisy not breaking eye contact as she took a sip of her wine. Eric placed his bottle down on the glass with a dull clink and let out a small sigh. He moved to grip at the edge of the label of the beer, damp with condensation and played with it till it pilled under his grip. 

“Dele says hi” he spoke, forfeiting the silent battle. Daisy hummed knowingly and her smile grew. 

“He having fun?” She asked and Eric smiled, nodded as he recalled Dele’s conversations with Troy about making sure the boy celebrated his 18th the right way. About kissing Dele goodbye the previous night, feeling silly at being sad at the idea of a few days apart. They’d survived the summer, so this was a walk in the park in comparison. 

Besides, he was happy that Del would have some time to let go and enjoy himself with Ben and the other boys. He’d been working extra hard recently, eating healthy with Eric and he deserved to just enjoy himself for a bit. 

Daisy's mouth opened, a teasing comment on her tongue that was interrupted by Patrick coming over with a fresh beer, letting them know dinner would be arriving soon. Eric grinned, happy at the new conversation and poked his tongue out at Daisy when he caught her eye again, she just rolled his eyes with a laugh in reply to her childish brother. 

 

Eric’s phone buzzed during dinner, alerting him to a picture of Deles lips around a straw in a glass fill of blue liquid held up over his chin with no accompanying message. He love reacted to the message and quickly locked his phone and put it away before his mum gets annoyed at him being distracted during family time. 

His phone stayed in his pocket till he crawled into bed later in the night. He’d kept it on vibrate just incase he heard from Dele again but his phone hadn’t buzzed, so he’d left it alone. 

Besides, it had been a while since his family had all been together in the same room and he got caught up in hearing about what his siblings had been up to. It was nice sometimes to not talk about football, during the season it could feel overwhelming to have every other conversation be about form and upcoming games and training and contracts.

With his family he could just be Eric, have his siblings rib him over saying something wrong or spilling his third bottle of beer with a clumsy hand movement. It was refreshing and left a warm feeling in his chest (which may also have something to do with the six-pack of beer he finished but, details. His stomach was full of delicious food and he had a gorgeous bed to crawl into and a day of actually sunshine to enjoy tomorrow. 

He was sick of winter, of the cold nights indoors and he was craving a day laid out in the sun, probably a game of tennis with his dad in the later afternoon. Just what he needed. 

The balmy night had left a light sheen of sweat over Eric’s chest and forehead and he quickly stripped himself of the linen button-up and he stepped into his suite. He chucked the shirt on top of his suitcase and retrieved his phone from his pocket before he stepped out of his sandals and shorts, carelessly leaving them in a heap by the bed. He fell back onto the bed with a groan, the plush mattress a welcome feeling to his tired body. 

He unlocked his phone to still see no contact from Dele and a small shadow of worry simmered behind his ribcage, thumb navigated his phone to the Instagram app. Eric trusted Dele through and through, but ever since the incident with ruby when Dele had gotten heatstroke after falling asleep drunk, Eric always got a bit nervous when Dele didn’t contact him for a few hours. 

The home page of the app loaded and Eric bit into his bottom lip when he didn’t see Dele, Ben or Madder’s icons in the top section of his screen. He hummed and navigated to the search bar and tapped in Keiren’s name, knowing he was also there with the boys. 

Eric hummed when he saw the ombré ring around his profile picture, clicked on it quickly to bring up his stories. He clicked through the first five images, and ad, a scenic picture, a few random videos before he spotted Dele in the left corner of the screen. He smiled at the image his drunk boyfriend made, smiling with blown-out pupils, chucking his fingers in a sign in front of himself. Eric clicked on the left side of the screen to watch it again a few more times before he let the screen slide across to the next story. 

Eric let out a little huff of a laugh through his nose at the next video, Dele with Ben slung over his shoulder, clearly absolutely gone, He had that glassy look in his eyes that he got when he was properly drunk, doing some silly little dance with his arms that made fondness throb one Eric’s chest. He loved drunk Dele. 

During the season it was a rare sight but Drunk Dele was something else. Eric knew if he was there, he’d have a sweet happy Dele in his arms, asking for kisses one second, trying to get his hands under his shirt, and doing some ridiculous dance move the next. Drunk Dele was loud and funny and loving, he was clingy to Eric and the life of the party all at the same time. His face would get flushed dark pink and his lips would be wet from whatever drink he was sipping at. He’d taste sweet like sugar and maybe a bit like beer, he’d chase every kiss with a little peck. 

Eric sighed and clicked on the left of the screen to start the story once more, just one more time he told himself, feeling a bit lame for lying in bed a bit tipsy watching his boy over and over again. Then again, he was a bit helpless when it came to Dele. As he watched it for the fourth time his eyes dragged over the whole picture, smirked when he saw where the sleeves of Dele’s back T-shirt fell. Eric huffed out a small laugh and licked his lips, eyebrows raised in slight disbelief as he clicked to watch the video again to make sure. 

The next part of the story started and Eric exited the app quickly to open his texts to dele, a stupid smile on his face as he typed. 

Eric: “Oi”

Eric: “nice shirt party boy” 

Eric: “looks so familiar” 

Eric: “so so familiar, and weirdly, I can’t find the shirt that I have which is so similar isn’t that weird?”

Eric: “and I thought you didn’t like the oversized look?? I remember two solid years when you bagged me out every chance you got for wearing anything even slightly bigger than my size”

The messages piled in a stack of blue bubbles, unopened and unanswered and Eric locked his phone before he dropped it to the bed. He didn’t expect a reply, sure that Dele was drunk and busy talking someone’s ear off or belting out a song while throwing out some dorky dad level dance moves. 

Eric rolled off the bed and padded into the bathroom, make fast work of having a quick shower and brushing his teeth before he properly climbed into bed, grabbed the cable of his phone charger and plugged it in before he laid back into his pillows. 

He snuggled further into the bed, pulled the crisp white covers up over his shoulders as he felt his eyes dip heavily, body heavy with exhaustion like it always was after travelling no matter how short the flight. 

He pressed on the home button to bring the screen to life, one last check for Del before he turned in for the night, it was only just before midnight. If Dele was there, he knew the boy would be teasing him for being an absolute grandpa, telling he was so old now and was no fun anymore (all while settling Eric into bed, and giving him head scratches to help him sleep).

Eric tucked his phone under his pillow, call him paranoid, but he liked to be reachable to Dele if needed him. Even being a long flight away, he wanted to be there for him for any reason. Besides, after the whole appendix situation, there was a certain anxiety for both of them that came with being apart, of the what if. 

With a heavy yawn, Eric leant over the bedside table to flick off the lamp before he settled in to sleep, rolling over onto his side and reached for the two pillows stacked on the other side of the bed. He bundled them under his arms and tucked his face into the soft unfamiliar smelling fabric, drifting off to the low hum of the hotel’s air conditioning. 

 

A low constant buzz was pulling Eric further and further from his sleep. He tried to resist waking, buried closer under the covers and squeezed his eyes shut tightly, bundled the warmth in his arms closer to this chest. The incessant buzzing ceased for a moment and Eric sighed thankfully as he felt the warmth of sleep roll over him once more, pulling him heavily back into its comfort. 

The buzzing started again, sharp and non-stop until Eric was reluctantly pulled from his sleep, his hands already blindly scrambling to seek out the source of the noise and kill it. His hand fastened around his phone in a loose grip and Eric flipped onto his back with a heavy grunt before he slowly blinked his eyes open. 

Eric squinted against the bright screen and hazily managed to turn down the brightness so that his eyes could focus on it clearly, able to see Dele’s contact name “Bamideleeee” at the top of the screen followed by “would like to facetime” in small white font. 

With a grunt, Eric grabbed a second pillow and shoved it behind his head as he pressed the accept call button with the pad of his thumb. 

“Y’alright baby?” Eric gruffed out, eyes half shut before he scrubbed his hand over them once more, finally adjusting to the light to the image Dele made on the screen, clearly back in his own room, face illuminated and the room quiet. 

“Did I wake you up? you look good” Dele’s voice came through the speaker, loud and slightly slurring, making Eric let out a small laugh. 

“Maybe a bit what time is it there?” Eric asked with a small laugh and Dele hummed, wobbled a bit, the image of him blurring before it settled again. 

“S’like four? Bit past four maybe” Dele answered and Eric nodded, thankful to know Dele was safe in his room. 

“You have fun?” Eric asked through a yawn, watching as Dele reached up to tug his cap from his head, a small frown on his face before he realised what Eric said to him. 

“Oh! Yeah loads- was uh, wassa cool club- I think you’d, oh! Oh! Eric did you see I got the blue drink, my plan totally worked” Dele rambled excitedly, eyes bright with happiness as he spoke, words fumbled a little as they out. 

“Troy downed the awful purple thing in like-two seconds- I mean to be eighteen again you know? And then I stuck to the blue drinks, like you suggested was way better you always make good choices for me Eric” Dele spoke and Eric bit back his smile, watch Dele until the screen turned black and Eric frowned as it was followed by a few muffled sounds. 

However, Eric reappeared after a few seconds, now shirtless, his eyes still light with happiness. “My shirt not doing it for you anymore?” he asked with a smirk and Dele huffed, waved a hand in front of him and shook his head. 

“D- Don’t know what you’re on about Dier. That is my shirt that I own. I’ve had that forever like since I was eighteen, ancient old thing that, a family relic” Dele explained, his small giggle at the end of his words giving him away. 

“Is that right?” Eric asked and Dele nodded, the movement exaggerated, eyes wide but not honest, a glint to them that Eric knew all too well. 

“You sure it doesn’t belong to me?” he asked, tugging the covers up higher on his chest, aching for the warmth of a drunk Dele laying on his chest. 

“Eric I am,” Dele paused and the image blurred before he focused to capture Dele laying out on a bed, pillows under his head. 

“I am, not a liiier” he huffed, reached up to scrub over one of his eyes. 

“‘M not a lier why would I even ever want your shirt?? Dier” Dele continued, rolled onto his side with one hand tucked under his cheek, smiling at the screen. “Hey, that rhymed I’m good no? Could be a rapper” Dele rambled and Eric let out a small laugh, nodded his head. 

“A good back up plan if this whole football thing doesn’t work out for you” Eric agreed, fought to keep his face serious, watching as Dele huffed and pouted out his bottom lip at Eric. 

“Do not be rude I am the golden boy of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and you should treat me as such” Dele mumbled and Eric rolled his eyes. 

“Golden boy?? Golden boy huh? Tottenham Hotspur? Don’t think I’ve ever heard of it actually, you sure you’re famous?” he asked and Dele let out a tut, shaking his head. 

“Uncultured you are” Dele huffed 

“Mm, you and the boys really soaking up the culture in Dubai huh? Lots of culture in the VIP section of clubs isn’t there? really immersing yourself in the way of life?” he teased, and Dele tutted, shook his head again. 

“You talk so much shit” Dele laughed, a warm smile on his face as his eyes lingered on Eric through the screen. 

“You have fun with your family?” Dele asked after a moment, wriggling on the bed as he asked, face mushed against the pillow. 

Eric smiled at Dele asking despite being drunk and exhausted “yeah love I did, everyone was asking about your ankle, mum harassed me about making sure I was taking care of you properly” Eric laughed, Dele smirking. 

“You take care of me just fine” he mumbled his cheeky smile in bloom, Eric’s chest going warm as he laughed. “Cut it out I was talking about my family” Eric laughed. 

“Sorry sorry, you’re the one that answered all y’know handsome and shirtless and sexy sleepy voice what am I meant to say” Dele pouted. 

“You call me at two am for any reason?” Eric asked.

Dele shrugged, his gaze dropped and licked over his bottom lip before he flickered his eyes up again. 

“Um” he pressed his lips together for a moment and shrugged again. 

“Wanted to tell you about my success in my mission and also make sure you know I didn’t get kidnapped, you know? Also since we are talking about kidnap again! Then I think we need to actually come up with a code word you know?” he rambled off on another track, something about how Poch should be their code word to honour him. 

Eric hummed, smiled when he realised the actual reason Dele called him, what he’s not said at all. “You tired love?’ Eric asked, interrupting Dele’s rambling easily. 

Dele nodded, reached up to scrub over his eye as he let out a small yawn. “Little bit” he admitted, “don’t wanna sleep, ‘m gonna wake up and feel so yuck” he muttered, eyes soft as he realised the hangover waiting for him. 

“Will you still love me when I’m hungover Eric?” Dele asked with a pout and Eric smiled, nodded in earnest. “Course I’ll love you, love you even more cause I don’t have to kiss you with your nasty hungover alcohol breath tomorrow morning” Eric smirked. 

Dele rolled his eyes and flipped Eric off “wouldn’t wanna kiss you anyway boys are gross and you have germs” Dele retorted, stumbling over his words slightly. 

“You ready to get into bed or need a shower?” eric asked, getting back on track with what Dele needed. 

“Bed, I’ll shower in the morning” Dele answered. 

“How about you get under the covers then love” Eric muffled another yawn behind his hand. 

Dele nodded, “hang on” he mumbled and the image of the roof filled his screen, shuffling sounds in the background. 

Dele’s face filled the screen once more, now under the covers of the bed. 

“Hi” he whispered, Eric’s heart throbbed in his chest, love fro Dele rushing through him like a hit of adrenaline, hot and fuzzy, He ached to gather his face in his hands and press a kiss to his lips. 

“Hi” Eric replied, eyes catching on a glint by Dele’s neck, realised he still had his chains on around his neck. 

“Del, don’t think you should sleep with your chain on, should take it off before you sleep yeah?” Eric suggested and Dele nodded, reached one hand to his neck and fiddled with it, trying to find the clasp. 

“Ugh I can’t find it” he mumbled, fingers fumbling over the clasp unsteadily, nail trying to catch the hook of the clasp to undo it. 

“You’ve got it, love, use both hands yeah? Only take a second” Eric encouraged softly and Dele nodded, abandoned the phone again for a bit. 

When Dele came back to the screen he was free of the chain, and Eric smiled at the sleepy picture he made, pressed into his stack of pillows with his covers high over his shoulders. 

“Comfy?” Eric asked and Dele nodded, fought his closing eyes suddenly as if remembering something. 

“You sleeping now too?” Dele asked and Eric had to stop himself from laughing a bit because Dele had literally woke hi, up for this call, of course he was going back to sleep. 

“Yeah, yeah I am” Eric nodded, tugging the second pillow from under his head to place to his left, getting ready again for sleep. 

“You comfy too?” Dele asked and Eric nodded, biting his cheek to fight his fond smile. 

“That’s good” Dele breathed, his eyes drooping as his breaths grew heavier. 

“You should sleep love, turn your lights out” Dele nodded and the room was dark in a moment, Eric’s face only illuminated by the light of his screen. 

“You have water near you?” Eric asked and Dele nodded, replied “yeah” in a soft breath. 

“Hey Eric” Dele asked after a moment, and Eric hummed “yeah?” 

“That was maybe your shirt” he confessed, making Eric smile, nodding his head. 

“Ah I had my suspicions” he added and Dele’s eyes fell closed. 

“But I looked way better in it” he added and Eric nodded again.

“You did” he agreed. 

Dele smiled, pressed his face further into the pillow. 

“Don’t hang up yet” Dele asked like Eric would hang up right now, with the image of drunk Dele face mushed into the pillow falling asleep. He took a few screenshots for prosperity, maybe blackmail if he needed (maybe to be his phone background whatever) 

“won’t love, go to sleep yeah?

“Yeah” Dele breathed, the phone tilting in his sleepy grip, obscuring the top of Dele’s head in the image. 

“Love you Eric” Dele muttered

Eric’s heart launched into his throat, eyes heavy with love as he watched Dele sleepily nuzzle his face into his pillow, lashes long against his cheeks. 

“Love you” he replied, eyes soft as he watched Dele fall into sleep finally, phone slumping from his hand till the screen was pretty much black. 

Eric hesitated a moment, making sure he was settled and truly sleeping before he hung up the facetime, body heavy once more in a desire to fall back into sleep once more. 

* * * *

The next morning when Eric finally heard from Dele, it was a simple photo texted to him. Eric is quick to click on the notification, wanting to see how Dele was feeling, tease him at least a bit about the hangover that probably had him in a world of pain; and probably still in bed.

The image gave Eric pause, a cup of tea raised halfway to his lips as he looked over the picture of Dele. That cheeky little thing. Even hungover Dele was pushing his buttons. The photo was Dele in the bathroom of his accommodation, stood in front of the mirror with his phone in hand, capturing the length of his body in the photo, the mirror cutting off around his knee. He was dressed in nothing but Eric’s black T-shirt, oversized and hanging far too loose on his frame, just the material just barely gripping to the edge of his shoulder. 

“What am going to do with you’ Eric sent in reply, saving the image to his camera roll before he tucked his phone under his thigh, ignoring the few buzzes he felt only a moment later. 

What am I going to do with him Eric thought as he took a long sip of his coffee and looked out over the warm landscape washed in a sun, a small smile pulling at the edge of his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo's and Comments make my day and keep me motivated to write. If you enjoyed the fic I'd love to know <3


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